Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad informed the Rajya Sabha of the same on Friday. Airtel has been fined Rs. 2.15, Vodafone Rs 1.8 cr, Reliance 1.65 cr and Tata Teleservices Rs 1.45 cr. Idea, Aircel, Loop, MTNL, Sistema Shyam, Uninor and Videocon have also been fined. As off May 31, 2015 there were 9,08,353 base tower stations in India, and 6 of them were exceeding prescribed radiation limits.
Over 1,000 of the Android smartphone brands seen this year didn’t even exist back in 2012. While Samsung devices continue to dominate, the biggest change is from previous years is the growth of these small companies chipping away at its dominance. Samsung’s market share fell from 47% in 2012 to 37.8% in 2015, despite the overall Android market registering growth.
HTC has announced that it will cut jobs and discontinue models as part of its strategy to focus on high-end devices. The announcement comes soon after the ailing Taiwanese company posted losses in Q2 and forecasted for “significant” losses in Q3. HTC is banking on selling high-end smartphones to customers in emerging market such as India.
Apple claims to have already got 11 million trial users, 2 million of whom have opted for the company’s family plan. If the company converts its current trial users to paying customers, it will have almost half of rival Spotify’s paying user base. While Apple music costs $9.99 for individual and $14.99 for the family plan, Apple has undercut its pricing in India to just Rs 120 and Rs 190 respectively.
Scientists propose using drones to track large animals such as tigers and elephants that stray into nearby villages. Forest officials will be able to survey 15-20 square kilometers from just one location. Following trials the WII plans to include features such as night vision and increased duration of flight. It is currently awaiting the DGCA and ministry of defense’s go ahead.
Facebook’s Internet beaming drone has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, will fly at altitudes as high as 90,000 feet and stay airborne for up to 90 days. Known as Aquila, the drone will be able to beam Internet to the ground at speeds of up to 10GBPS. The drones will communicate with each other via Lasers and will begin testing before the year-end.
The partnership will bring high-speed Internet connectivity across the island nation via Google’s Project Loon. The initiative aims to connect remote and rural parts of the world via the Internet beamed down from balloons. Google’s hi-tec balloons will stay aloft in the stratosphere and float for about 100 days. The company is tying up with local Sri Lankan ISPs for the project.
The company suggests that drones fly between the ground and 400 feet. Further, the area from 0-200 feet should be a low-speed localized traffic zone, while the area above it should be a high-speed drone highway of sorts. Amazon has also proposed that since drones will be flying autonomously, they will require sensors to sense and avoid obstacles.
The new 3D Xpoint chips are fruit of a decade-long partnership between Intel and Micron. The new architecture does away with transistors entirely and is a cross between DRAM and NAND memory. The first application of the new memory format could be real-time data analysis which requires masses of DRAM, which can now use 3D Xpoint instead.
The engine develops a thrust of 19 tonnes and will power the cryogenic stage of the GSLV MK-III. The endurance hot test of 800 seconds is approximately 25% longer than the engine burn duration in flight. This is the first high-thrust cryogenic rocket engine India has developed and produces nearly 3 times the thrust of the cryogenic engine used in the GSLV MK-II
Researchers at the Video Analytics Lab of SERC have developed algorithms that analyse traffic patterns and detect violations. The algorithms have set parameters which mimic existing traffic rules. Any deviation from the set path can be automatically picked up as a violation. The researchers claim that system can already be implemented in Bangalore.
Researchers at MIT have built a server network that ditches RAM in favour of cheap and efficient flash storage. By getting the flash drive controllers pre-process data rather than dumping all the work on the CPU, the speed of RAM-less servers was improved. Don’t expect your PC or smartphone to ditch RAM in favour of flash storage.