skpye translator preview out for user

After rolling out Skype for Business last month, Microsoft on Tuesday made its Skype Translator Preview app available for general users. Notably, the app was available in closed preview since its official introduction in December last year.

Users can now download Skype Translator Preview directly from the Windows Store but would need Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 preview on their PC or tablets to run the app, as per the blog post. Microsoft has not yet mentioned the app's availability for Windows Phones.

The Skype Translator Preview currently supports four spoken languages - Spanish, English, Italian and Mandarin, while under Instant Messaging the app supports 50 languages. The app translates the users' one-on-one voice or video chats as and when they speak, in both directions. Option to only hear or only view the transcript is also present.

Microsoft is expecting more feedback from users now that it has been made available to all. The firm demonstrated the 'breakthrough technology' publically almost a year ago at the Code Conference technology gathering in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

In the meanwhile, the Redmond-based firm is reportedly planning to launch a country-specific Skype app in India. As mentioned by Skype spokesperson, Filipp Seljanko, the app is aimed at offering video and voice over Internet protocol services that are optimised for India's mobile networks - specifically, to offer a better experience over 2G and 3G networks.

The Microsoft-owned company decided to develop the app after market research showed it that competitors like Viber were managing to provide better services for mobile users in the country. Explaining how the app would be better, Seljanko said, "India's 2G and 3G network[s], as well as the mix of phones in use, pose very specific challenges for us. The new application will be much lighter than the one now available, and will require far less computation resources and memory."

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googles street view in hyderabad(india)

Hyderabad will be the first city in India to get Google Street View, Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said on Tuesday.

A delegation led by the minister met the Google Street View team of Manik Gupta, Director of Product Management and Narayana Tummala, Ground Truth Engineering Lead for Google on Tuesday.

While Street View has been extensively used in the US, Canada, and many European countries, its applications in India have been limited so far. Google has launchedStreet View for some of the tourist sites like Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar in partnership with the Archaeological Society of India, but not yet been able to offer street-level views of Indian cities.

"Google is in talks with the Minister of Home Affairs to get permissions for conducting the Street View exercise at a city-wide level. This permission is expected to be given shortly."

"Upon the request made by the Minister, Google has agreed to make Telangana the first state which will get Street View for one complete city, namely, Hyderabad to begin with, with subsequent extension to other major cities and towns," Rama Rao said in a statement issued in Hyderabad.

Google has also agreed to support specific requests made by the minister to utilise Street View for monitoring of deviations from approved building plans, property tax collection, mapping of industrial land bank located in different parts of the state, among others, the statement added.

Google has in the past attempted to offer Street View in India, but ran into regulatory hurdles. Others like WoNoBo have stepped in to fill the gap.

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xiaomi enters in to online market

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc waded into China's red hot online finance arena on Monday with a new money market fund to compete against the likes of tech rivals Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.

Dubbed "Huoqi Bao", Xiaomi's new personal finance service will offer deposit rates higher than traditional Chinese banks and will be accessible via an app to be bundled with Xiaomi handsets.

The service, a collaboration between Xiaomi and E Fund Management, one of China's largest wealth managers, will expand into offering personal lending and securities brokerage in the near future, Xiaomi said.

The money market fund Xiaomi is offering has recently generated annualized returns on deposits of 4.5 percent. Xiaomi was the second-most popular phone maker in China behind Apple Inc during the first quarter of 2015, according to IDC.

The formation of Huoqi Bao pits Xiaomi against Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu Inc, Internet giants that have shaken up China's financial services market in just two years.

Launched in 2013, Alibaba's Yu'e Bao said it had amassed 578 billion yuan ($93 billion) in assets by the end of 2014, placing it in a rarefied tier of funds run by the likes of Vanguard.

Tencent has said its Licaitong product launched in 2014 now has 100 billion yuan under management.

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Deca core for smartphones and tablets

MediaTek on Tuesday expanded its Helio system-on-chip (SoC) series with the launch of the deca-core Helio X20 for smartphones and tablets. The Chinese chipmaker launched the first Helio SoC at MWC this year, the Helio X10. The company confirmed that the Helio X20 with 10 processing cores will begin sampling in Q3 and can be expected to be available in consumer products by end of this year.

MediaTek claims that its new Helio X20 is the 'world's first mobile processor with tri-cluster CPU architecture' and features 10-cores. The Helio X20 is MediaTek's answer toQualcomm's Snapdragon 800 series, which has been used on the majority of flagships launched this year, with the exception of Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge that use the South Korean firm's own Exynos 7 series of SoCs.

The tri-cluster CPU architecture consists of three processor clusters, with the company claiming that each is designed to more efficiently handle different types of workloads. The MediaTek Helio X20 packs one cluster of two ARM Cortex-A72 cores (clocked at 2.5GHz for extreme performance), and two clusters of four ARM Cortex-A53 cores (one cluster clocked at 2GHz for medium loads, one clocked at 1.4GHz for light activities).

MediaTek's dedicated Helio X20 page explains, "It can delegate simple tasks to one cluster of cores, while directing more-complex (and more-power-hungry) tasks to the other clusters. If the smartphone is doing only simple tasks - such as sending text messages or running the calculator - on one cluster, the other clusters can power down, and therefore drive smoother performance and extended battery life."

The new Helio X20 SoC features support for smartphone/ tablet displays with a refresh rate of 120Hz; and also brings support for 32-megapixel single camera with 24fps and 25-megapixel with 30fps; packs 3D depth engine built into hardware; includes new de-noise and demosaic hardware for improved image quality; supports 10-bit colour depth, and also supports both HEVC and VP9 HW decoding. It also features an embedded ARM Cortex-M4 processor, which is a low power sensor processor supporting always-on apps such as MP3 playback and voice activation.

Commenting on the announcement, Jeffrey Ju, Senior Vice President of MediaTek said, "By leading with mobile CPU architecture and multimedia innovation, MediaTek continues to push the envelope of power efficiency and peak performance. We are excited to see device manufacturers raise the bar - in camera, display, audio and other consumer features. MediaTek has been adding innovative multimedia features to our platforms since the very beginning, enhancing the overall computing and multimedia experience as part of our strategy to put leading technology into the hands of everyone."

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Micromax canvas spark

Micromax's budget Canvas Spark smartphone will be available in its third flash sale via Snapdeal on Wednesday, commencing at 12pm IST for registered users. The company, at the time of writing, had not revealed the number of units that will be available in the third flash sale.

The last flash sale saw 50,000 units of the Canvas Spark going out of stock in 5 minutes while the first flash sale saw 20,000 units going out of stock in less than 2 minutes.

The Micromax Canvas Spark is a dual-SIM smartphone, and runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out-of-the-box. It features a 4.7-inch qHD (540x960 pixels) IPS display along with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, and is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582M processor coupled with 1GB of DDR3 RAM.

The Canvas Spark bears an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and an M8 Largan lens, apart from a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It sports 8GB of built-in storage, which is expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB). Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, FM radio, and a 3.5mm audio jack. It is powered by a 2000mAh battery that's rated to deliver up to 335 hours of standby time. The smartphone comes in dual-tone colour options - White-Gold and Grey-Silver.

At a price of just Rs. 4,999, Micromax is definitely trying to woo customers looking for up-to-date smartphones in the sub-Rs. 5,000 segment.

A new Micromax Canvas series smartphone, the Canvas Nitro 2, went on sale via an e-commerce website. The Micromax Canvas Nitro 2 (E311) was available to buy at Rs. 10,399. So far there has been no announcement from Micromax regarding the launch of the Canvas Nitro 2.

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Lenovos 4G Budget phone

Lenovo's A7000 budget 4G LTE-enabled smartphone will go on sale again on Wednesday. The fifth flash sale will commence at 2pm IST for registered users on Flipkart.

Lenovo India, at the time of writing, had not revealed the number of Lenovo A7000units that will be going on sale in the flash sale on Wednesday. The last sale saw20,000 units going out of stock in 31 seconds.

Unfortunately, the company never revealed the number of Lenovo A7000 units that went on sale in the fourth and third flash sales as well as the time taken for the available handsets to go out of stock. The second sale saw 35,000 units going out of stock; though no time period was shared by Lenovo India. The first flash sale of the A7000 saw 30,000 units going out of stock in 4 seconds.

Priced at Rs. 8,999, Lenovo at the India launch of the A7000 smartphone detailed the flash sale method it would be employing, which will leave consumers a 4-hour window to complete their transaction once the product is added to their shopping cart.

The A7000 is the larger sibling of the company's popular 4G LTE budget offering, theLenovo A6000 (Review | Images), and features upgraded specifications as well as a larger display and Dolby Atmos technology - pegging it as a multimedia device

For specifications, the Lenovo A7000 supports dual-SIM (Micro-SIM) while running Android 5.0 Lollipop with Vibe UI running on top. It features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display and packs an octa-core 1.5GHz (MediaTek MT6572M) processor with 2GB of RAM. It features an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front facing camera. Internal storage on the handset is 8GB, which is expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB).

Connectivity options on the smartphone include 4G/ LTE (FDD Band 1, 3, 7, 20; TDD Band 40), Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS, Bluetooth, and Micro-USB, just like its predecessor. The Lenovo A7000 is backed by a 2900mAh battery, measures 152.6x76.2x7.99mm and weighs 140 grams.

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