Tag: Exhibit Tech Magazine

How does Instagram influence music trends?Trending reel music starts trending on music streaming platforms

Instagram is an addictive yet entertaining app. TikTok and other apps popularised the vertical short-form video format. Instagram soon followed as an update to keep up with the consumer demands of our generation. Instagram calls this feature Reels. Reels are arguably one of Instagram’s most consumed forms of video content. Long-term Instagram users may know that Instagram was a picture-sharing platform, but as nerds call it, each video is either 24/30/60 frames of pictures per second. 

Instagram influences music trends 

Instagram reels are all about trending music and music suitable for content uploading. Adhering to the needs of Instagram users, reels have a built-in music selection for your video content on Instagram. TikTok is no longer available in India, so many content creators have switched to what is available, Instagram. A new trend is emerging involving music consumed by the masses in the form of short video content on Instagram.

Maximum reach is achieved when one selects music on the Instagram app for reels. Reels allow user content audio to play alongwith trending music for the reels, followed by many people hopping on the latest trending music to make their content. A new trend witnessed due to this approach is how the selection of music on trending reels influences consumption of that particular song or music on other streaming and download platforms. 

Anatomy of music trends

The song that trends on Instagram as a story or reels directly impacts the song’s consumption in other apps like Spotify, Gaana, Saawan, YT Music, etc. This is a recent phenomenon and is genuinely impacting the music industry. What was once possible for products and services as a form of entertainment through influencer marketing now applies to the music industry. For example, Duke & Jones, Louis Theroux – Jiggle Jiggle song was released on 13th May 2022 and was introduced by the duo as a form of music on TikTok on 14th May 2022. Thanks to the platform, this music saw 2.6 million views on just one platform by 17th May 2022. As the world trend followed, it was soon popularised on Instagram, and millions of views are pouring in as you read this article. A direct influence has this song trending on top charts across music streaming platforms. We believe that as the short form of video consumption popularises new and old music, it will shape and transform the music industry.

How to protect your privacy in a digital era

In an increasingly digitized world, protecting one’s privacy may, essentially, be an impossible task. It is no longer a mystery that we are being watched with every move we make on the internet. As small and accessible as our worlds are now, it comes at the cost of losing autonomy over who has access to our private information and what they do with it. So, how do you reap the benefits of a technologically advanced planet while ensuring that you are safeguarding sensitive information, sufficient downtime, and your sanity? WhatsApp is a popular internet-based text and voice messaging service with over two billion users worldwide. It is possible to use their privacy features to minimise visibility and disruptions. 

Open WhatsApp, go to Settings, tap Account, and then Privacy to customize who has access to your ‘Last Seen’, ‘Status’ and who is allowed to add you to WhatsApp groups. You can block or report contacts by clicking on the contact name and scrolling all the way down and tapping Block Contact or Report Contact. Instagram is a popular social networking and photo-sharing app that allows you to connect with celebrities, brands, family and friends. There are multiple ways that you can be discreet on Instagram. 

You can change the settings to make your account private thereby controlling who has access to your photos and videos. You can do this by going to Settings, Privacy and then tapping next to Private Account.You can block users by tapping on their username, scrolling all the way down and tapping on Block. If what you really need is a break from social media then you can temporarily disable your Instagram account by logging onto www.instagram.com, clicking on your profile and tapping on Edit Profile. You can scroll down and connect Temporarily Deactivate Account. 

These privacy considerations are the bare minimum in times when the fear of losing oneself to the peculiar ways of the internet is looming large. As users become more vigilant, there will be a need for more intricate privacy settings such as time-specific visibility on social media and instant messaging applications.

OnePlus 10R-R stands for rapid charging or rebranded?

It doesn’t look like a OnePlus phone!

The OnePlus 10R feels like it was rebranded, and maybe that’s true. The new age, flat edge design looks neat, but the sharp design with more contemporary looks does feel a stark departure from the traditional curved configurations of the past from OnePlus. It feels relatively lightweight for a 6.7-inch display phone with plastic sides and back along with Gorilla Glass 5 protection up front, weighing 186gms. Buttons are tactile, and the overall sharp edge feels like a love or hate situation. Available in two colours – Forest Green and Sierra Black, we test the latter but opine the former as a choice. 

Top-tier hardware but lacklustre software  

Our unit features a mind-blowing 160W charger inside the box and a 4500mAh battery. This device’s highlight must be that insane combination of blazing-fast 150W SuperVOOC charging. The phone juices up in less than 10 mins when it comes to charging up to 70+% and thus eliminates charge anxiety in a weird way. A full charge comes in less than 18 minutes, which is mighty impressive. The phone is no slouch either, with Dimensity 8100 Max (custom SOC), 12GB RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1, an in-display fast fingerprint sensor and relatively long-lasting battery life. 

The AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate feels fast, but the Oxygen OS 12.1 is based on Android 12. Yes, the usual customisations, simplicity, and speed prevail, but there are glitches, and we faced quite a few. For instance, the YouTube app would randomly hang and display over all other apps, including system UI. A long press on the power button triggered the power menu but was not accessible thanks to YouTube recommendations scrolling endlessly on display. This also happened with other apps like GPay and thus was not limited by one app misbehaving. 

We did receive two updates during our usage with the phone, but none seemed stable. That said, the hardware and the triple-camera setup are an excellent package. The 50MP primary shooter with f/1.8 and OIS can capture good images and videos even in low light. The 8MP ultrawide manages to match colours, and FOV is quite broad. There’s a 2MP macro shooter lacking details, but weirdly enough, all the rear sensors are capable of shooting in 4K! The front 16MP camera with f/2.4 is wide and clear but can only do EIS 1080p recordings. Mics and connectivity are spot-on, and there were no issues. There is dual-SIM 5G support, with no spectrum to test. 

The phone was stable after four non-stop battle-royale games, which was undoubtedly impressive with an astounding 720Hz touch-sampling rate. None of the games supports 90fps yet, but they all easily ran at their max settings. WiFi 6 support is icing on a rather tasty yet simple-looking cake. All OTT apps support FHD resolution and HDR10+ content. 

A sleeper phone?

The OnePlus 10R blazed through our tests only to get stuck on any random app requiring a soft reboot. The phone is not only capable of handling this generation of usage but charges faster than most of our bath times. As much as we loved it, we do not wish random software glitches on anyone. If the software experience improves with OTA updates, and you can look past the relatively simple generic look of the OnePlus 10R, it is a great all-around phone. 

Good – Insanely fast charging, good hardware

Bad – Generic looks 

Ugly – Software glitches

3.5/5

Processor – Dimensity 8100 Max

RAM – 12GB + UFS expandable 

ROM – UFS 3.1 256GB

Charge – SuperVOOC 150W Charging

Charge time – 0-100% – 18 Mins

Touch sampling rate – 720Hz

Display – 6.7-inch AMOLED 120Hz 

Cameras – Rear – 50MP OIS, 8MP Ultrawide, 2MP Macro, 16MP front camera

Google Launches ChromeOS 103 for Chromebooks: Top New Features

Back in CES 2022 in January, Google demonstrated new features to improve their “Better Together” ecosystem experience. Today, with the latest instalment of ChromeOS 103, users can finally experience features such as viewing the camera roll from your phone on your ChromeOS device through the Phone Hub interface, as well as Android’s reply to AirDrop, nearby-share to share Wi-Fi information between supported Google devices.

Beginning with the camera roll sharing, as it stands, the Phone Hub (pretty much the equivalent of the Your Phone app available on Microsoft’s Windows products) can allow the user to keep up with notifications sent to the phone, view recent Chrome tabs, and execute actions such as pinging the phone to locate it, turning on and off the hotspot, and changing the ringer settings on the android device. 

Now, however, the application allows users to see their phone’s camera roll through the Chromebook. Sure, you might be thinking photos.google.com does the same thing? However, Google claims that this feature works completely offline as well. Tapping a photo will allow users to download the selected image to the Chromebook.

Google also announced Chromebook support for Google Fast Pair, which is a proprietary device pairing standard using Bluetooth Low Energy to enable the iconic “AirPods Pairing” window to make wireless accessories easier to use, but for a much larger range of devices that can be experienced on modern Bluetooth earphones and accessories on Android. 

Furthermore, Google also claims that with the latest iteration of Nearby Share, “sharing is up to 10 times faster.” Finally, Nearby Share also adds a minor yet meaningful feature in the form of Wi-Fi credentials sharing, making sharing Wi-Fi passwords much faster and also much more secure between supported devices.

Enabling the Smartphone Future

The global pandemic has triggered digitization at an unprecedented rate in India, with the country becoming a leading mobile-first consumer economy1. As smartphone prices cease to be prohibitive, the smartphone user base is expected to reach 829 million in 2022, accounting for 60% of the population, which will represent 38% of all networked devices in India this year2. Today, India ranks second in the world for the number of smartphone users.6 

Smartphones are playing a pivotal role in bridging the divide between urban and rural India and improving digital literacy- they are offering access to education, healthcare, banking, and other vital services. In fact, during the most severe lockdowns, smartphones and internet access were central to keeping children connected and educated, especially in rural and remote parts of the country.  People are turning to their phones both for enrichment as well as entertainment. 

The Photographer in Us

Smartphones have dramatically changed our lifestyles and have become our go-to devices. People in India spend around five hours a day on these devices on average, and are one of the world’s highest data consumers per day—even surpassing China3. After all, digital natives turn to smartphones for work, play, and nurturing hobbies. Phone cameras offer rich 4K resolution today, and several new devices bring 8K video recording. These innovations have turned many people into amateur photographers and content creators, capturing and documenting our lives. However, at the same time, this means that unless we have the right level of storage, we have to make the debilitating decision of deleting our memories in order to create new ones. 

Today, dedicated storage devices are developed especially for mobile content creators, such as SanDisk® Dual Drives, which can be used to enhance mobile storage by up to 1TB5 and offer ease of moving content between various compatible devices. Moreover, dedicated storage is available both for AndroidTM and iOS devices. This simple plug-and-play device allows us to continue the pursuit of the best picture and capture our precious moments without worrying about the lack of storage space. Other options are available too, such as microSDTM cards and external SSDs, that offer phenomenal transfer speed and can be plugged directly into smartphones that feature a card slot.

1 InMobi’s Annual Mobile Marketing Handbook 2021

2 https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/m/en_us/solutions/service-provider/vni-forecast-highlights/pdf/India_Device_Growth_Traffic_Profiles.pdf

3https://www.nokia.com/about-us/company/worldwide-presence/india/mbit-index-2021/

4 https://go.inmobi.com/gaming-report-2021-india/

5 Add footnote: 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual user storage less

6 https://newzoohq.medium.com/the-india-opportunity-tapping-into-one-tenth-of-the-worlds-gamers-3d9248f6fea9

Booming Mobile Gaming 

Thanks to the smartphone penetration in the country, mobile gaming has also become a mass phenomenon and is competing with other popular entertainment categories, such as short-form video, streaming services, and social networks for user attention. With one out of ten gamers across the globe being in India, it is the fifth-largest mobile gaming market globally4. Even an entry-level smartphone today comes packed with more power and features. As a result, affordable yet powerful smartphones are one of the critical enablers of this massive boom in mobile gaming. Additionally, easy access to various game titles has also aided the popularity of mobile gaming. For example, many casual games are ‘Pick Up and Play’, usually available as a free download and monetized by ads. These also attract casual gamers looking for no-obligation games to pass the time. 

Hardcore gamers can easily access the games of their choice from almost unlimited title options and play immersive multiplayer games, which are gaining traction. While immersive and graphically taxing titles are becoming popular, these take up a lot of space on the device, which can hamper the gameplay in the absence of the right storage. The storage should be designed to avoid the lagging graphics that can slow the game down. For example, the microSDTM card, in addition to offering ample space, should also offer high-performance speeds to support demanding game graphics and 4K ultra-HD video. 

Smartphones have changed our world and have become a crucial part of our lives. However, these devices will become inhibited without storage.  

The Biggest Upcoming Technologies of 2022

The beginning of every New Year is no doubt exciting for a variety of reasons. However, among these reasons, is the unveiling of new technologies. This unique opportunity creates a unique platform for companies far and wide to introduce what they will be working to launch in the upcoming year. It also provides each company a unique look into what their competitors are trying to get out there.

Whether you use this platform just as an observer or a competitor, it is hard not to be left oohed and awed by some of these technological adventures. Here is just a shortlist of some of the most exciting things tech companies are working toward this New Year.

3D Home Printing

Could the old methods of home-building be about to change forever? What if you could do away with your hardhat and toolbelt and wear a suit and tie while carrying a briefcase to work every day? This might not be a sacrifice everyone is willing to make, but 3D home printing technology could forever change the world of homebuilding. You’d be surprised at just how applicable it is to feed concrete, sand, and plastics into massive 3D printers.

You might be surprised by this, but you likely be even more surprised at how cost affordable this solution is. It might end up even being less costly than the older, traditional ways of building homes. There is, however, one thing still holding the industry back. That is the lack of infrastructure to transport printing materials to parts of the world where they would be most impactful.

Self-Fertilizing Crops

When you look at all the wealth in the world, it is almost hard to believe that there are still suffering and struggling out there. Indeed, there are entire countries and regions of the world lacking, but it just seems like some people have so much. Not only this, but you combine all this excess with the waste that goes on today, and the fact that there is one starving person in the world seems kind of ludicrous. That might be about to change. And it won’t have anything to do with less spending or less wasting.

It will be thanks to self-fertilizing crops. Most people just don’t realize how harmful current farming practices are. With the use of massive commercial fertilizers, nitrogen and other harmful chemicals are just eating away at the earth daily. Nitrogen is a highly used crop production chemical that accounts for 1 to 2 percent of yearly, global carbon dioxide emissions.

While nitrogen has proven to be an effective fertilizer, it is also doing untold harm to the world.

A world that is in limited supply. Soy plants and members of the legume family like peas and lentils might be about to transform the entire industry. Scientists are already immediately working on getting corn and other cereals to self-fertilize.

Advancement Of Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies have been a slowly trudging technology that’s for the most part stayed on the fringes of mainstream finances. Consumers have seen this shift a bit in the online sports betting market. So, it is possible to play สล็อตแตกง่าย ฝากถอน ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ with specific digital currencies.

There are now a few online platforms willing to accept and payout in cryptocurrencies. Some e-commerce sites also accept digital currencies.

El Salvador has just recently become the first country in Central America to make Bitcoin the most popular cryptocurrency in the world.

Sweden, Canada, The European Union, and The United Kingdom are already a few of the global leading giants that are considering implementing financial changes. Unfortunately, there are some still not embracing this digital currency and all the potential it offers, but that could possibly change in 2022. It is the concerns and potential risks for digital fraud in countries like China, Bangladesh, Qatar, Egypt, and Morocco that have been deterring many.

Anti-Aging Drugs

Who doesn’t want to stay looking and feeling like a teenager? It seems these hopes and dreams might come to fruition in the upcoming years. At least the part about looking like a teenager.

While there are plenty of exciting and ground-breaking things going on in modern medicine, it seems that anti-aging medications are the exclusive talk of the town.

The first wave of new class anti-ageing drugs has already been shipped out and implemented in controlled testing environments. While these medications are not yet designed to make one live longer, they remove certain cells that accumulate during the aging process.

Everything new in iPadOS 16

The iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Pro are Apple’s three iPad product lines. For tech products to thrive in the market, updates and changes are very important. Apple has done precisely that. 

In the recent update, Apple Inc. introduced an entirely new multitasking experience with the Stage manager and full external display support, bringing in new ways to collaborate via the Messages app, significant updates to Mail and Safari, new apps and more. 

Updates to Messages

The Messages application now has new capabilities that make it simple to collaborate and manage shared material across Apple-based applications like Files, Keynote, Pages, Notes, Reminders, Safari and other third-party applications. The document, spreadsheet, or project is automatically shared with all the members of the thread/group when users submit a collaboration invitation via Messages. Everyone will also be able to see live updates to a shared file right at the top of the Messages thread when someone modifies. 

In addition to the improved collaboration, messages will also allow users to have a better messaging experience by enabling users to edit sent messages and recover recently deleted messages. 

New Application: Freeform

Apple is introducing a collaboration application called Freeform during the iPadOS 16 updates. With this application, you can view, share, and collaborate all in one location without worrying about layouts or page sizes. Coming to iPadOS 16 later this year, Freeform will permit users to view others’ contributions as they add content or make edits while enjoying a real-time collaboration space by starting FaceTime sessions and getting updates from others on Messages. 

New Application: Weather

In the new update, the long-awaited weather app is being added to the iPad. Users may access essential weather information with only a swipe or browse maps to check precipitation, air quality, and temperature. Users will also receive notifications when a severe weather alert is issued in their location and monitor the air quality using a colour-coded scale. 

Updates to ‘Live text’ and ‘Visual look up.’

Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Live Text identifies text in photos. This functionality has been extended to videos, allowing the reader to interact with stopped video frames. Users can now use this feature to convert currencies, translate different languages, or copy the text in a live video!

Updates to Safari & Mail

Shared Tab Groups allow users to collaborate on a set of tabs with friends and see updates instantly while they work together, share tabs and bookmarks, and start a conversation right from Safari. 

Passkeys, a quicker and safer sign-in technique meant to replace passwords on the web and in applications, make browsing in Safari even more secure. Passkeys are stored on the iPad and are unique to the sites they were created for. Hackers can’t leak passkeys or fool users into providing them since they’re special digital keys that stay on the device and are never saved on a web server.

Mail introduces new smart tools; some are options to cancel the delivery of a message before it reaches a recipient’s inbox, schedule emails to be sent at the perfect moment and more. 

New Feature: Powerful Multitasking

Stage Manager is a brand-new multitasking experience that organises programmes and windows for you, making switching between jobs a breeze. Users may now construct overlapping windows of various sizes in a single view, drag and drop windows from the side, or start applications from the Dock to build groups of apps for quicker, more flexible multitasking on the iPad for the first time.

Final Conclusion

These are the most significant updates coming to the new iPadOS 16. These changes will positively impact the user experience of iPads because additional features for multitasking were much needed, which now have been implemented to the iPadOS.

Moto G82 5G Launched in India

Motorola has made its mark in the Indian market hot on the heels of releases such as the Motorola Edge 30, G52, and Edge 30 Pro. The OEM recently announced the Motorola G82 for India, sporting the Snapdragon 695 5G and a 120hz display in the mid-range segment.

The build and design of the phone are fairly basic, with a PMMA Thermoplastic material on the back panel, and Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the front. The phone comes in two finishes – Meteorite Gray and White Lily. All this is topped off by a water and dust resistance rating of IP52.

The display is a 6.6 inch 120hz 10-bit pOLED panel delivering inky blacks and vibrant colours. With a 360hz touch sampling rate, gaming and general usage are more responsive to touch input, providing a snappier experience. 

The G82 comes with 6 or 8GB of DDR4X memory, and 128GB of uMCP storage, with up to 1 TB expandable storage through the microSD card slot available on the sim tray. 

The phone contains a 5000mAh cell, with an included charger for 33W “Turbo Power” fast charging, as the company calls it. 

Moving on to the cameras, the triple camera setup on the back is a 50+8+2 MP effort for the Main, Ultra-wide, and Macro cameras respectively. The 50-megapixel main camera with an f/1.8 aperture supports OIS, a rare addition in this competitive segment, but definitely great for both stable video and improved Night Mode shots. Furthermore, video is capped to 1080p 60fps on the main lens. Towards the front, is a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture with the ability to capture up to 1080p 30fps.

The Moto G82 will be shipping with Android 12 with a light skin over an otherwise close-to-stock android experience, delivering a bloatware-free, smooth and unified experience powered by Google products. The phone will be available for purchase on Flipkart from the 14th of June.

Specs:

  • SoC: Snapdragon 695 5G [Octa-core]
  • Display: 120hz pOLED 6.6 inches FHD+
    • 360hz Touch Sampling
    • 700 nits (1000 nits peak)
    • 10-bit colour, covering the DCI-P3 colour gamut
  • RAM: 6GB/8GB RAM LPDDR4X
  • Storage: 128GB + 1TB Expandable – uMCP
  • Battery: 5000mAh + 33W “Turbo Power” Fast Charging
  • Operating System: Android 12 My UX

Back Cameras:

  • 50 MP f/1.8, Wide Angle, Primary Camera with OIS up to 1080p 60fps
  • 8 MP f/2.2, Ultra-Wide Angle Camera
  • 2 MP f/2.4, Macro Camera

Front Cameras:

  • 16 MP f/2.2, Wide Angle, Primary Camera

Build and Design

  • PMMA Thermoplastic
  • IP52 Water and Dust Resistance
  • Stereo Speakers
  • Gorilla Glass 3 Protection
  • Headphone jack

Asus BR1100-A small laptop with a small price

In 2022, everything is expensive, especially computers and computing parts. Thanks to an ongoing pandemic, most of us work from home, and kids learn from home too. There has never been a better demand for computers as in this era and although your phone is yet another computer with a smaller display and different OS, the need for a full-fledged computer has increased many folds. Add the fact that most laptops are easily over the price of 30K. Asus launched their BR 1100 series, one with (BR1100FKA) and one without a touchscreen (BR1100CKA), for as low as 25K! We review the latter. 

Design – Small chassis, smaller screen

A 180-degree opening hinge on something like a 13-inch laptop chassis with an 11-inch 1366×768  anti-glare display makes this little wonder usable from many angles. The keyboard is not backlit but has tactile feedback and does the job for countless hours of typing. It is definitely a little cramped and takes time to familiarise. The trackpad is also smaller than most current laptops but supports gesture recognition and decent multi-touch support. The design is enforced with steel connectors, military-grade MIL-STD-810H certified with soft rubber circumference and a beautiful matte texture on the front and comes in a dark grey, light grey highlights and black keyboard accentuating the appeal of this budget laptop. 

Made for connectivity 

The chassis on both the FKA touchscreen and CKA non-touchscreen models are the same, and thus both enjoy some diverse utility and connectivity. The front and back panels are neat while the LHS houses a Kensington lock, 45W barrel charge port, USB (G3.2 with charge support) Type-C, USB (G3.2) Type-A, full HDMI 1.4 port, a blank cutout of the FKA stylus while the RHS has a full RJ45 port, USB (G2.0) Type-A port, another blank cutout, 3.5mm headphone jack, power button and volume rocker like most phones. Couple that with Intel wireless AC-9560 WiFi connectivity, and the laptop supports high-speed dual-band connectivity with Bluetooth 4.2, an impressive connectivity package for the price. 

Performance – Not bad but too limited 

At this price, Asus has packed the chassis with consistent ruthless usage in mind like students and field operators. The laptop comes with a dual-core Intel Celeron N4500 (1.1 – 2.8GHz) paired with a generic 4GB DDR4 RAM, and a 64GB internal memory marks a limit to this laptop’s usage. Chrome with multiple tabs pin this laptop’s RAM and at times processor use at alarming levels. 4GB and 64GB are the bare minimum, but somehow our unit received and ran Windows 11 Home 21H2 update with ease. What seems to limit everyday use are the RAM and internal memory. Assigning more virtual memory did little to nothing. Tabs refresh more often than expected, and memory management only loads the tab you are accessing at the moment. The processor does a decent job of keeping things snappy overall. 

The laptop has multiple shortcuts assigned to FN keys and one-touch software-enabled buttons to disable the noise-cancellation enabled mics and camera. The 0.9MP 720p camera is clear and decent for video connectivity with support for 720p 30fps recording. Viewing angles on the LED-backlit display are good, but outdoor display brightness could be an eye strain. The user-facing speakers are impressively loud and clear and make a great companion for online classes, conferences, videos, and multi-media. The efficient internals aid this laptop’s 45Wh battery to last as long as 7+ hours of use. At 1.26Kgs and 25K starting price, the Asus BR1100CKA is an interesting laptop. It does all justice to its form factor, and despite being chunky, it feels trustworthy to wield. 

Verdict – Not bad for the price

Laptops are expensive this year, and Asus BR1100CKA proves a great companion for someone interested in regular text use with occasional multi-media consumption. It offers a whole Windows experience at the cost of low-tier hardware with good connectivity, but products like the Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 with an external keyboard offer a much more versatile package at similar prices. Think before you choose!

Good – Price, military-grade protection, connectivity

Bad – Low-tier hardware

Ugly – Better competition 

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