VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

Dutch newsletter platform Revue acquired by Twitter:  Twitter   on Tuesday announced to enter the newsletter segment by acquiring the   newsletter platform Revue   for an undisclosed amount.   An expert says, during the day, regularly thousands of news are coming and there can be country specific news to send to each region by a newsletter, could grab a good revenue and response both at a time. Where the most relevant news can be posted in the Newsletter, that to country and region specific.   Newsletters aren’t the most obvious fit for Twitter’s platform, but in a blog post, Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour and VP of Publisher Products Mike Park suggested that that this is a new way for Twitter to serve writers and publishers who have built a following with their tweets.   Twitter said that Revue will continue to operate as a standalone product and the platform's Pro features will be made free for all accounts. Revue is a Netherlands-based startup that al...

Whatsapp used to distribute new malware:  Whatsapp   and its users now seem to be in deep trouble as a newly discovered   Android malware   has been found to propagate itself through WhatsApp messages to other contacts in order to expand what appears to be an adware campaign.   "This malware spreads via victim's WhatsApp by automatically replying to any received WhatsApp message notification with a link to [a] malicious Huawei Mobile app,"  ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko  said.   The link upon clicking the fake Huawei Mobile app, redirects users to a lookalike  Google Play Store  website.   Once installed, the wormable app prompts victims to grant it notification access, which is then abused to carry out the wormable attack. Specifically, it leverages WhatApp's quick reply feature - which is used to respond to incoming messages directly from the notifications - to send out a reply to a received message automatically. ...

MHA eases COVID-19 restrictions; cinema halls and hall capacity increased:  The   Ministry of Home Affairs   on Wednesday eased several restrictions imposed due to the spread of   COVID-19 . From increasing the capacity of cinema halls and theatres; allowing swimming for all to the opening of international air travel passengers, the Home Ministry will prepare standard operating procedures (SOPs) in consultation with the concerned ministry, states, and union territories.   The new order would be effective from February 1 and would remain in force till February 28. As per the new guidelines, cinema halls and theatres that were operating at 50 percent seating capacity would now have a higher seating capacity. Swimming pools were only accessible to sportspersons, will soon be open for all.   There will be ease in the restrictions for international air travel for passengers. The decision on the same will be taken in consultation with the  Civil Aviation Min...

550 Twitter accounts suspended over violence at farmers' protest on R-Day:  Twitter   removed off over 550 accounts from its platform in connection with the violence during the farmers' tractor rally in the national capital on the   72nd Republic Day . A Twitter spokesperson said that the platform has also labelled tweets which were found to be in violation of its "synthetic and manipulated media policy".   "We have taken strong enforcement action to protect the conversation on the service from attempts to incite violence, abuse, and threats that could trigger the risk of offline harm by blocking certain terms that violate our rules for trends, the spokesperson said.   The microblogging platform said that it had applied labels to tweets that were found to be in violation of synthetic and manipulated media policy."We are monitoring the situation closely and remain vigilant, and strongly encourage those on the service to report anything they believe is in viol...

This year Union Budget 2021 has huge expectations from technology sector:  There are lots of hope from expectations from the   Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman   and   Union Budget 2021 . Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has promised a never before like Union Budget as the   Modi government   looks to give a further boost to Indian economy ahead.   Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur  and senior officials of the finance ministry on Saturday participated in the symbolic 'Halwa Ceremony' that marks the beginning of compilation of budget documents. Union Budget 2021 is scheduled to be presented in Parliament on February 1, 2021.   The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has; without doubt; adversely impacted world economy at large. Almost every industry has borne the brunt and MSMEs are severely affected with many closing down, probably permanently. However, IT & ITeS sector has seen spike in growth across some industry verticals i...

Fire breakout at Serum Institute campus, CEO confirms 'no major loss':  The officials from the   Pune Fire Brigade   said that a fire was reported on the campus of the   Serum Institute of India (SII)   located at Manjari in Pune on Wednesday afternoon.   A fire brigade official confirmed that the incident was reported on the fifth floor of a new building on the Manjari campus.   “As per our knowledge, the building is not directly connected to Covishield manufacturing,” he said. Fire was brought under control at 4.15 pm. cooling operation, in which water is used to reduce the increased temperature of the premises, is currently on. A total of nine people who were trapped have been rescued.” Prashant Ranpise, the Chief Fire Officer with Pune City Fire Brigade said.   Vivek Pradhan, factory manager at SII told that the third floor where the fire broke out was a rota-virus lab. “There is no stock of Covishield. The work of electric and pipe fitting wa...

Google announces to support Google Calendar offline only for workspace users:  Google Calendar   has offered offline support for desktop users once again. The offline feature was rolled back when Google released a new UI for the Calendar app in 2018. Users will now be able to see their Google Calendar from four weeks prior or any time in the future, by day, week, or month offline when accessed through a computer. With the relaunch, the tech giant aims to make Google Calendar more useful, particularly when users are offline or have unreliable Internet connections. But the support is limited to Google workspace customers for now.   The offline Calendar feature will be available on all tiers including  Google Workspace Essentials , Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and non-profits customers.   Google announced t...

28 non-official members nominated on startup council:  The government has nominated 28 non-official members on the   National Startup Advisory Council , including   Byju’s Chief Executive Officer Byju Raveendran ,   Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal ,   Kalaari Capital Managing Director Vani Kola   and   SoftBank India country head Manoj Kohli .   The Commerce Ministry in a release stated, “The  Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)  had constituted the council on January 21, 2020, to advise the government on measures required to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country”.   The term of the non-official members of this council, chaired by  Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal , shall be for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Other members include ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman, Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Kris Gopalakrishnan of Axilo...

Vodafone wishes to sell part of Indus stake to fund VI:  Vodafone Group Plc   is considering selling a small portion of its 28.12% stake in Indus Towers to inject capital into its ailing Indian telecom joint venture,   Vodafone Idea (Vi) . This comes even as Vodafone Idea’s potential global lenders are pressing the telco's co-promoters - the UK telecom major and India’s   Aditya Birla Group   - for some capital infusion to improve their overall comfort levels, three people with direct knowledge said.   The Vodafone Group has previously said that it would not infuse any fresh equity into Vi. But its stake in the now-listed Indus Towers is an existing and separate telecom-related investment in India, which may make it easier for the British telco to convince shareholders, if required.   According to sources, formalising the final funding terms, leading to a binding term sheet, is expected next month, but the timeline also depends on how soon on...

Quantum acquires Square Box Systems to help businesses get more value from unstructured data:  Quantum Corp.   has announced that it has acquired   Square Box Systems Ltd , a specialist in data cataloging, user collaboration, and digital asset management software. The acquisition builds on Quantum's recently expanded portfolio that classifies, manages, and protects data across its lifecycle by adding technology advancements to further enrich video, digital images and other forms of unstructured data. This acquisition will strengthen Quantum's ability to provide software solutions to help companies unlock the business value contained in their data, both on-premises and in the cloud.   Square Box Systems' flagship product is CatDV , an agile media management and workflow automation software platform that helps organizations with large volumes of media and metadata to organize, communicate and collaborate more effectively. CatDV leverages artificial intel...

Tencent partnership will expedite Geely's autonomous and smart tech development : Following the news that China-based Geely Auto Group has partnered with technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd;

US Guv asks Australia to scrap proposed laws to make Facebook, Google pay for news: A Australia has been instructed by the U.S. government to scrap proposed laws that will make it the first country in the world to force   Facebook Inc   and   Alphabet Inc’s Google   to pay for news sourced from local media outlets. In a submission asking the government to “suspend” the plans, assistant U.S. trade representatives Daniel Bahar and Karl Ehlers, suggested Australia instead “further study the markets, and if appropriate, develop a voluntary code.”   As per the law, which has broad political support and is currently before a senate committee, Google and Facebook will be subject to mandatory price arbitration if a commercial agreement on payments to Australian media cannot be reached.   “The  U.S. Government  is concerned that an attempt, through legislation, to regulate the competitive positions of specific players ... to the clear detriment of two U.S....

COVID-19vaccine sale: Pharma giants Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set to touch the sky by 2023:  2021 is all set to become quite a year for the pharma companies leading the   COVID-19 vaccine race , with significant revenues on the line. The most significant players in the market, pharma giants   Pfizer   and   Moderna   are set for the lion's share of 2021 vaccine sales.   According to data presented by Finaria.it, BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines sales are expected to generate $14.7bn in revenue by 2023.   The call for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments has become louder than ever, with countries worldwide facing the full force of the pandemic's second wave.   As of January 11, there were over one thousand drugs and vaccines in development targeting the coronavirus disease, revealed the Pharma Intelligence data. More than 60% of them were still in the preclinical phase. However, three candidates were in the pre-registration phase, ...