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TCL unveils 2021 Mini LED, QLED and 4K HDR TVs at CES 2021

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TCL Electronics showcased its newest Mini LED, QLED and 4K HDR TVs under its forward-looking AI x IoT strategy at CES 2021.

Attendees at this year’s all-digital CES were introduced to the new TCL 4K Mini LED TV C825, TCL 4K QLED TV C725, TCL 4K HDR TV P725. More details will be announced closer to sales launch later this year, the company said in a statement.

TCL is boldly taking the lead in global display technology at CES 2021, it said. This year, it is introducing three outstanding Mini LED, QLED and 4K HDR TVs that claim to go beyond powerful picture performance and deliver a comprehensive range of lifestyle features for new generations.

C825:

The TCL latest 4K Mini LED TV C825 elevates our TV viewing and video gaming standards to the next level. C825 is an important addition in TCL’s continuous commitment to Mini LED Display Technology.

C825 adopts straight down backlight mode reducing the grain size of traditional LED to 100 ~200 ? m. Thousands of light control units are used to increase the number of backlight sources. Combined with full array, ultra-high targeted regional brightness adjustment is realized to bring a better visual experience.

Featuring Quantum Dot Display Technology, C825 combines light and colour, higher gamut and more precise light control to achieve the ultimate picture quality effect.

C825 also features Dolby Vision HDR imaging technology, offering ultra-vivid picture that brings entertainment to life, and Dolby Vision IQ, which leverages the full intelligence of C825 to deliver a perfect picture in your room at every moment by dynamically adjusting to the changing light in the room and the types of content being played back, while maximizing the full capabilities of the TV.

With supreme audio-visual quality together with Imax Enhanced, the C825 will deliver unparalleled enjoyment to consumers at home.

To make moving images smoother and video gaming more engaging, the C825 uses 120Hz MEMC and 120Hz low reverse display.

Also, a 4-way HDMI 2.1 port, VRR, ALLM, eARC, WiFi6 and low input lag give gaming fans faster, smoother graphics, and better sound effects. A magnetic split-type camera 4M Pixel delivers superb visual and audio interactions for superior video call experiences.

C725:

Elevating Quantum Dot Display Technology to a new level, the TCL C725 QLED 4K TV offers excellent value for those who want high-quality, interactive home entertainment as part of a connected and smart lifestyle.

With nearly 100% ultra-high colour gamut (DCI-P3), the Quantum Dot Display Technology in the C725 will deliver even more vibrant and diverse colours without the limitations of lower colour volume or shorter lifespans found in other colour technologies.

Dolby Vision ultra-vivid picture and Dolby Atmos immersive audio together with Onkyo deliver an audiovisual feast. The C725’s AiPQ Engine switches on the full potential of TCL’s big-screen TVs with real-time optimization for different entertainment or content genres.

Users can enjoy Hands-Free Voice Control 2.0, Google Duo and unlimited content from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and Movie, Disney+ and more, adding to the enjoyment of an intelligent life.

In addition, the C725 supports both MEMC and HDMI 2.1 to deliver images that are always smooth, even in fast-moving action scenes.

P725:

The TCL P725 is a 4K HDR TV featuring Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, delivering a stunning, high-quality, detailed experience, especially dynamic motion imageries and immersive audio.

Dolby Vision is an advanced imaging technology that combines high dynamic range (HDR) with wide colour gamut capabilities to deliver ultra-vivid picture quality with incredible brightness, contrast, colour, and detail.

Silky-smooth MEMC motion picture processing ensures crisper, no-blurring and stable imagery performance in fast-moving, action-packed scenes.

P725 also supports Dolby Atmos, immersing you in your favourite entertainment with sound that moves all around you with breathtaking realism, delivering incredible clarity and detail that allows you to hear details you’ve never heard before.

P725‘s TCL Hands-Free Voice Control 2.0 frees you from the remote control. Switch channels, set reminders, and explore streaming services via simple voice commands. The P725 also offers enhanced entertainment experience with the latest in Android TV OS. It’s millimetre-thin metallic trim design delivers a broader and wider sense for entertainment.

HCL partners Bobble AI to offer solutions for fintech sector

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation company, Bobble, has partnered with HCL Technologies (HCL) to offer customer engagement solutions in the open banking space through a plug-n-play White-label Keyboard SDK (Software Development Kit).

The keyboard-based solution, an innovation by Bobble AI, creates a unique advantage and strengthens HCL’s relationships with its Banking and Insurance Clients, building a competitive advantage by offering clear benefits including increased revenue and reduced customer acquisition cost.

The solution, which will be deployed remotely, will help HCL’s Banking Clients develop a 360-degree understanding of their consumers based on smartphone behavior across 24×7 usage. With this knowledge, HCL’s Banking Clients will be equipped with a far better communication and acquisition strategy for cross-selling its wide-range of products and services.

The Bobble AI Keyboard SDK offers core typing functionalities like auto-correct, word predictions, swipe-to-type, speech-to-text, clipboard, and more.  In addition to English, these features work efficiently in 36 Indic languages and over 100 International languages.

The solution seamlessly integrates with a bank’s mobile app, giving consumers access to services while creating an opportunity for banks to extend their features and offerings to their consumers based on real-time intent. It serves as both a strategic driver for promoting mobile banking services and helps banks regain P2P (peer-to-peer) transactions that may be lost to digital wallets and other dedicated solutions.

Ankit Prasad, CEO & Founder, Bobble AI said, “Keyboard is essentially the first customer engagement tool for any connected device in today’s world and a relevant and focused integration in the mobile app helps in building quick revenue growth, helps to reduce customer acquisition cost, significantly boosts engagement with the users and more importantly gives a competitive edge. Together with HCL, we aim to engineer an innovative infrastructure of white-label solutions that will help banks and their FinTech partner ecosystem create differentiated Open Banking strategies and implement them.”

Shopmatic set to turn cash positive in 2021

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E-commerce enabler Shopmatic has registered revenues of over $7M in 9 months – Apr-Dec 2020 exceeding its targets by 40%. Riding on an upward trajectory with its recently launched range of tech-enabled solutions for the countries’ SME and entrepreneur sectors, Shopmatic turned EBITDA positive – a year earlier than originally projected.

The company witnessed great demand from customers in Singapore, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong a testament to the digital wave which has been accelerated due to the effects of COVID-19.

In April 2020, when the initial faltering of the economy was felt due to the pandemic, Shopmatic focused its efforts on providing managed solutions through one of its locally acquired companies- CombineSell Pte Ltd. This move was to help move Singapore’s SMEs offline to online by providing them an opportunity to outsource their digital team.

In May 2020, Shopmatic introduced a special solution for grocery/ ‘kirana’ stores to go online – and found great adoption from businesses across India and Singapore.

The company witnessed 80 per cent growth over the July-September quarter in transactions and GMV compared to the previous quarter, another testament to the digital wave, which fuelled ecommerce adoption by SMEs.

In December 2020, Shopmatic launched a whole new range of ecommerce solutions allowing individual entrepreneurs and SMEs to choose from 4 different ways to e-commerce via Shopmatic Chat, Shopmatic Social, Shopmatic Webstore, and Shopmatic Marketplaces.

During the last nine months, Shopmatic as a group has enabled over 5000 Singaporean businesses to digitize and generate significant customer revenues by helping businesses sell through marketplaces, social media commerce and their webstores.

The company is now planning to expand to other countries in South-East Asia this year and is in advanced discussions with several investors, for a Series B fund raise.

Anurag Avula, Co-Founder and CEO, Shopmatic, said, “We are very happy that we were able to close 2020 on a hugely positive note and are now able to step into 2021 with even more aggressive plans to digitize local businesses and entrepreneurs in Singapore, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong. We continue to make significant investments behind key resources to be able to drive our organisation to the next level and expand footprint into new markets in South East Asia. At Shopmatic, our focus is to build a sustainable and profitable business and we are delighted that we’ve been able to reach this significant milestone a year ahead of plan.”

As an e-commerce solutions provider, Shopmatic brings several elements of the e-commerce landscape onto a single platform to help SMEs and individual entrepreneurs take their businesses online. From creating a customized online store, selling through social and chat commerce, selling on multiple marketplaces with integrated global payment options and shipping solutions, creating and promoting digital advertising, Shopmatic makes it easy for anyone to sell online.

Fox My Box launches Kitsun, the Fox PC, for gamers in India

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Fox My Box, a leading player in the niche of professional customization for consumer durables, has launched “Kitsun- the Fox PC”, a one-of-a-kind aesthetically built Custom PC cabinet, targeted primarily at PC modding community, gamers and Performance PC enthusiasts in India.

While Gigabyte, the Taiwanese manufacturer and distributor of computer hardware, provided the best-in-class components for the PC; Studio 34, the automotive design studio, visualized and mapped out the design and aesthetics, closely knitted with the latest technologies of 3D designing and printing it to reality.

Conceived by Fox My Box, the new Kitsun is powered by Ryzen Threadripper 3960X, built by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), the American multinational semiconductor company.

Kitsun, the Fox PC is powered by the powerful AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X, based on Zen 2 Architecture with a base frequency of 3.8GHZ which goes all the way up to 4.5+ GHz, delivering unparalleled rendering time. It also houses a Gigabyte 64GB RAM which can go up to 256GB, 3600 Mhz, Gigabyte AMD 5700 XT GPU, Aorus 850Watt power supply, 360mm Custom liquid cooling, Aorus 1TB gen4 SSD, and a stellar TRX40 Aorus Pro WIFI motherboard.  Kitsun is available at INR 12 lakhs (without the hardware).

Built for 4d motion and rendering, the PC hosts a premier graphic card that is run by joining two riser cables which have never been done on a working PC, with no compromise on performance. For system cooling, Kitsun runs a custom loop with a 360mm radiator. It also uses a BYKSKI waterblock and a radiator to control peak temperature of around 50 to 52 Degrees at 100% load.

Ankush Khera, Founder & CEO Fox My Box, said, “I deeply feel that the Kitsun has the potential to revolutionise the professional modding industry in India by enabling people to re-imagine PC cabinets more vividly and come up with tangible solutions for those who want something unusual and extraordinary than what is available in the market, stitched to their specific needs, demands and aspirations. This can be in scope of custom cabinets, custom paint jobs, and custom shapes of the cabinet and so on.”

Worldwide PC sales remained on fire during Q4 2020: IDC

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With the pandemic still in full swing, traditional PCs (inclusive of desktops, notebooks and workstations) were once again an in-demand consumer technology. The fourth quarter of 2020 saw global shipments grow 26.1% year over year to 91.6 million units, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The same category of devices grew 13.1% year over year for the full year 2020 with the catalysts being work-from-home, remote learning, and restored consumer demand.

“Every segment of the supply chain was stretched to its limits as production once again lagged behind demand during the quarter,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobile Device Trackers. “Not only were PC makers and ODMs dealing with component and production capacity shortages, but logistics remained an issue as vendors were forced to resort to air freight, upping costs at the expense of reducing delivery times,” he added.

To put things into perspective, the last time the PC market saw annual growth of this magnitude was 2010 when the market grew 13.7%. A lot has changed in those ten years, including six years of PC market decline, as well as a year of flat growth. The question now is how long this resurgence will last.

“Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. “The obvious drivers for last year’s growth centered around work-from-home and remote learning needs, but the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. We continue to see gaming PCs and monitor sales at all-time highs and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market. In retrospect, the pandemic not only fueled PC market demand but also created opportunities that resulted in a market expansion,” Reith added.

Coolpad launches Cool Bass TWS earbuds in India

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Smartphone brand Coolpad has marked its foray into the accessories segment with the launch of Cool Bass true wireless earbuds in India. Available exclusively on Amazon at a price of 1,199, the earbuds feature a 13mm dynamic driver, Bluetooth 5.0 and active voice assistant (Google and Siri) for a seamless end-user experience.

The earbuds are equipped with a digital battery display which allows you to charge according to your need. The smart charging feature lets you enjoy 3 hours of backup in just 15 minutes of charge

The earbuds run on a 400mAh battery which the charging case sports. With quick charging capabilities, the earbuds offer you 3 hours of playback, 4.5 hours of playing time, 4 hours of talk time, and 20 hours of extended playtime.

When it comes to the design, the ultra-portable and sleek earbuds sport an innovative dolphin design 2.0 with a smart digital battery display. For enhanced convenience, Coolpad has added the universal Type-C interface to the device.

Fisher Yuan, CEO, Coolpad India, said, “After positioning Coolpad as one of the leading brands in the budget smartphones category, we are thrilled to enter into the audio accessories segment. The wireless earphone market has witnessed explosive growth in the past few months and holds infinite potential for a disruptive brand that introduces products with exceptional design and features. We have scaled our production capacity for smartphones and accessories to 5M and soon plan to start the production of accessories in India by end of 2021. We are all set to launch a wide range of accessories for smartphones throughout 2021, and achieve market leader status in this category as well.”

Harsh Sharma, Online Marketing Manager, Coolpad India, said, “At Coolpad, we intend to offer an exceptional end-user experience with every product that we launch. A lot of deliberation has gone into the innovative, new-age design of the Cool Bass earbuds, and we are very impressed with the final product. With a comfortable fit, lightweight and portable design, quick charge, and the best-ever bass, the Cool Bass earbuds are definitely set to take the market by storm and become the most preferred wireless earbuds out there.”

Airtel, NSIC join forces to accelerate digital transformation of Indian MSMEs

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Telecom operator Airtel is stepping up initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in India by partnering with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a Government of India Enterprise having its mission “to promote and support MSME sector by providing integrated support services encompassing marketing, technology, finance and other services”.

Airtel announced an alliance with NSIC to make it easier for millions of small and medium businesses get access to Airtel’s connectivity, conferencing, cloud, security, and go-to-market solutions. This partnership with NSIC envisages digital transformation of this critical sector as key to the Government’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ for enabling MSMEs to scale up faster by ways of adopting digital ways of doing business.

Airtel’s solutions for MSMEs include:

  1. Airtel Connectivity: Internet, Secure Internet, Dedicated Internet, Managed Wifi, VPN, Direct VPN, Intelligent VPN
  2. Airtel Landline: PRI & Toll-Free Calling solutions
  3. Airtel Mobile: Corporate Mobile Plans with bundled G-Suite
  4. Airtel Conferencing: Secure, simple and seamless meetings with Airtel BlueJeans
  5. Airtel Cloud: Private, Public and edge cloud solutions
  6. Airtel Secure: Integrated security solutions for businesses
  7. Airtel IoT: Utilizing the power of IoT to make businesses smarter
  8. Airtel IQ: Cloud communication suite to transform customer engagement

The offerings will come with the trusted support from Airtel that ensures high customer satisfaction through industry-leading service uptime. Airtel already serves over one million medium and small businesses across India with best-in-class products that are available to customers in highly flexible formats. The alliance with NSIC gives it much deeper distribution reach in this segment.

Udayakumar, Director (Planning & Marketing), NSIC, said, “These solutions will be available through NSIC’s online portal www.msmemart.com as well as through NSIC’s field offices across the country under NSIC’s Aggregation vertical offering ICT Enabled Digital Services. This partnership with Airtel is envisaged to serve multiple ICT needs of MSME sector for sustained growth and increased productivity.”

Ajay Chitkara, Director & CEO, Airtel Business, said, “MSMEs are critical to the Indian economy. We are delighted to join hands with NSIC to fast-track their digital transformation journeys. Airtel’s pan-India network, deep distribution reach as well easily accessible digital platforms will give MSMEs the flexibility and convenience of addressing all their digital connectivity requirements through a single window.”

WheelsEye believes FASTag will evolve into a digital currency for transportation

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Logistics tech startup WheelsEye believes that FASTag will soon transform into a digital wallet for transportation. In 2012, India’s first ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) was started in Gurugram. It grew to a wider scale and came to be known as FASTag by 2016. One lakh tags were issued in that year by four major banks. 7 lakh and 34 lakh tags in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Today, more than 2 crore fastags are active and from February 15 onwards, fastag will become mandatory.

National and state governments and private companies are racing to claim the top spot and are pushing the bar. According to an Oct’20 article by The Hindu, Chennai Traffic Police is working on an AI-based challan collecting system that will deduct traffic fines from the FASTag wallet. Parking startup Park+ is collecting parking fees using Fastag Wallet.

It was becoming increasingly clear that fastag is evolving into a digital wallet for transportation. It will be used to pay challans, buy fuel and file GST returns along with the  paying toll tax. There are numerous potential use cases of FASTag like obtaining vehicle location, paying compliance fee, & paying loading and unloading charges.

It is reported that 80% of commercial vehicles are already FASTag enabled and 65% of the daily toll collection is dependent on commercial vehicles. But still it’s a long way to go before we make a smooth experience for commercial vehicle owners

“For fastag to be successful, it’s important that truck owners trust and adopt it. Fastag has been primarily developed for car owners, but its success hangs on the success of commercial use-case solutions. Fastag has the potential to drive the unification of the highway economy. With fastag, india is inching towards a world-class transportation system. WheelsEye also enables postpaid plans and fuel purchase on fastag,” said a WheelsEye spokesperson.

Fantasy platform Zooppy brings in new initiatives for movie buffs

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Online fantasy platform Zooppy has launched two new initiatives for the movies-lovers.  It has launched gaming leagues in regional languages and new video leagues with increase in the prize money. Apart from English, the gaming leagues will be available in regional languages.

The inclusion of regional languages is a step towards increasing the user base. It is simple and easy to play and participants who answer the questions in the lowest time wins.  Film-based yes or no questions, multiple choice questions and picture puzzles are available in the app. Additionally, video leagues are available in Zooppy each week and comes with the latest trending videos in India.

Yuva Pushpakar, Founder, Zooppy, said, “We have added regional languages as there is a huge penetration of internet boom in local language content and video. We aim to use vernacular to gain from the huge market available in semi-urban India. Moreover, movies being a passion in India, we aim to capture market share in the gaming segment.”

In the video league, the participants have to choose videos from a list of YouTube videos provided in the league. The videos should be chosen in such a way that the views attained by the video will be the highest. Each video has a credit and the user is given 1000 credits to make a list. Participants who have chosen the list of videos which gained the maximum number of views in YouTube are rewarded cash prizes.

Since the launch, Zooppy users have won top smartphones such as iPhone 12 Pro Max, OnePlus 8 T, iPhone 12 Mini etc. playing the dream price contest. The participants can choose their dream prices and the lowest unique price submission wins the content. The prizes were distributed by Sunny Leone in Mumbai last month.

Vivo launches Y51A in mid-segment with 5,000mAh battery and reverse charging

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Vivo has today announced the expansion of its Y series portfolio with the launch of vivo Y51A in India with 48MP rear camera and modes like Ultra Stable video, Super Night mode and Macro mode.

The device boasts a 5,000mAh battery with 18W charger along with Reverse Charging feature.

Priced at Rs 17,990 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM (expandable upto 1TB), the vivo Y51A is available for purchase in two colour options— Titanium Sapphire and Crystal Symphony on vivo India E-store, Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Tatacliq, and across all partner retail stores.

The vivo Y51A features design with Side Fingerprint Sensor and 6.58 inch Halo FullView Display with FHD+ (2408×1080) resolution.

The device is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 6-series processor. It also comes with the latest Funtouch OS 11 which is based on Android 11 for providing the latest Android experience.

The rear camera also offers Ultra-Stable video with Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) technology that aligns individual frames and automatically corrects unstable movements. It also has Super Night Camera capabilities for both front and rear which reduces the noise and capture beautiful shades of night even in low light.

The triple camera setup also lets you take wider shots with wide-angle lens and close-up macro shots with the dedicated macro lens. On the front, the smartphone has 16MP camera for brilliantly clear selfies.