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MSI introduces 11th Gen Intel processor line up under ‘Business & Productivity’ series in India

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Micro-Star International (MSI), the technology and laptop giant debuted its brand new “Business & Productivity” line-up: The Summit, Prestige, and Modern series in India. The Summit E15 and Prestige 15 laptops will be available in India from 24th January 2021 across leading e-commerce website – Flipkart.

The remaining line-up of products will be available in the market soon. The price of the series starts from Rs 55,990 and goes up to Rs 1,79,990.

Green Lin, Regional Marketing Manager, MSI, said “We are delighted to enter into the business and productivity segment of laptops with our latest 11th Gen Intel processor line up in India. From establishing a strong hold in the gaming and content creation segment, MSI has now come up with innovative, feature loaded laptops for business professionals. India being an extremely important market for us, we wanted to bridge the gap between our consumers and their needs for powerful devices which provides them with best-in-class productivity, security, reliability and style. We hope the new line up resonates with the consumers helps them speed up their workflow.”

The Summit Series, as the name implies, is the pinnacle of a mountain and represents the determination to lead and succeed in a career. The chassis and new logo showcase minimalism and modernism to compliment the tastes of business professionals. With the growing trend of remote working, the best business laptops need to do more than just send emails and connect to the internet; they need to have high performance, enterprise-grade security, and must be versatile enough to cater to a wide range of requirements.

The Summit Series is devoted to delivering comprehensive and secure solutions. From TPM 2.0, IR Camera, fingerprint reader, to USB port, and SD Card Lock, the Summit Series laptops are secured by various layers of advanced protection. By integrating hardware, firmware, software, and identity protection, the Summit laptops help protect corporations from data theft. The Summit Series packs a thin yet solid chassis with high performance and enterprise-grade security to help companies and business professionals enhance productivity.

The new “Business & Productivity” product line combines three distinguished series of MSI laptops: Summit, Prestige, and Modern. The new series are all outfitted with the super-powered, latest 11th Gen Intel processor, which offers up to 20 percent faster performance than its predecessor. One of the new graphic options is to gear up with Intel Iris Xe graphics, which is three times faster than standard integrated graphics.

The entire lineup is also accelerated by technologies like PCIe Gen 4 SSD and Thunderbolt 4 with USB 4.0, to boost daily work and even empower maximum personnel output for ultimate productivity. Another crucial function designed for remote workers is the noise cancellation feature. Its bilateral noise reduction for both microphones and speakers which helps reduce ambient noise during video conferences.

In addition, the new Prestige and Modern Series have now been updated with captivating, contemporary new colors –Urban Silver, Pure White, Carbon Gray, Rose Pink, Blue Stone, and Beige Mousse.

The Prestige 14 Evo is one of the first laptops to be certified on the Intel Evo platform, which indicates this laptop is smarter in many ways. It offers instant wake, quicker login, and faster Wi-Fi connection which make it much more efficient at saving users’ precious time.

VideoMeet rolls out Hindi and English captioning in virtual meetings

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Made-in-India video-conferencing application VideoMeet has yet again delivered a highly useful feature, ‘close captioning’, to make the virtual meeting experience for its user base convenient. The application has begun the feature with Hindi and English captions but plans to roll out in all Indian regional languages with future app updates. The purpose behind introducing this feature was to reduce the intensity of disturbing elements in the meeting.

The feature is accessible and enabled by the host for conducting a seamless meeting. Dr Ajay Data, Founder and CEO, VideoMeet, explaining the message behind this feature, said, “We are a homegrown application, and it is our duty to introduce features that symbolise our vast culture; India being a diverse nation deserves a virtual meeting application that makes them feel connected and close to their roots. The characters in close captioning appear at the speed at which the user speaks, which is highly efficient and well-coordinated.”

Apart from this feature, VideoMeet ever since its inception has been integrating unique features such as the Backstage platform that allow users to wait in a safe mode before entering the meeting. Participants are also made aware of their waiting time before given access to a virtual meeting. Another one being Playback feature, which enables participants to watch the pre-recorded sessions and meetings. It gives control to the host for managing and scheduling the entire playback for smooth communication.

Zoook unveils Rocker Thunder Bolt karaoke party speaker at Rs 2,499

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Less than a month after launching premium tower speaker Gladiator, French lifestyle brand Zoook has now come up with the future of karaoke party experience with its new Rocker Thunder Bolt Bluetooth party speaker, which also has the True Wireless Stereo ready feature.

Equipped with the latest Bluetooth v5.0 technology, the portable yet dynamic looking speaker lets users stream their favourite playlist without any hassles. The 30-watt high-power output party speaker comes with a wireless microphone to get the party started instantly. Adding to the party feel is its energizing looks, dynamic LED lighting on the front and flashing DJ lights.

The Zoook Rocker Thunder Bolt comes with 6-inch woofer for hosting a karaoke party. Besides a wireless microphone, the speaker also has an in-built mechanism to let users add echo to their sound. The microphone remains connected up to a range of 10 metres. Adding to the virtues of the speaker is its easy mobility and light weight. It weighs less than 1.5 kg and hence can be moved anywhere without trouble.

The speaker is powered by a 3.7V 1,200mAh battery, which allows non-stop music playback for up to five hours, following a charge time between three to five hours. With Zoook Rocker Thunder Bolt, you get X-Bass, which ensures a thumping deep bass sound. Apart from Bluetooth, the party speaker further offers multiple connectivity options such as Aux, USB flash and mic-in.

The top console of the speaker houses different controls and buttons for functions such as playing previous song, next song, play, pause, volume control, mic control, equalizer, power on/off. There is also the option to toggle between music source such as USB or Aux-in.

Priced at Rs 2,499, the Zoook Rocker Thunder Bolt is available at all leading online as well as offline stores.

Yellow Messenger and Microsoft collaborate to transform voice virtual assistants

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Yellow Messenger, an AI platform, has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to transform its voice automation solution using Azure AI Speech Services and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools.

With this initiative, Yellow Messenger aims to increase the accuracy of its voice bot solutions and help enterprises across sectors in enhancing consumer experience automation. Under this collaboration, Microsoft and Yellow Messenger’s R&D team will be working on building a more human-like voice assistant platform that is capable of understanding and responding on the basis of sentiment, dialect, and workflow.

According to industry estimates, 60-70% of overall business to customer interactions across the world take place through telephony today, while the rest is over chats and email. Conversational interfaces are changing how customers relate to brands and ‘voice’ is playing a key role in enabling smarter brand-to-consumer engagement. Through the collaboration with Microsoft, Yellow Messenger is enabling brands to increase their sophistication and usage of automated voice assistants for regular use.  Voice-based virtual assistants can be deployed to handle inbound and outbound calls, across real-time telephony and synchronous voice channels.

Raghu Ravinutala, CEO and Cofounder, Yellow Messenger said, “Voice, as compared to text, is a more complex channel due to multiple factors at play such as the real-time experience, varying accents by country and legacy architecture. Our collaboration with Microsoft’s Azure Speech Services is empowering us to build customised voice models that allow higher accuracy and better intent understanding. Our voice assistants can hold natural conversations in over 35 languages and their variants across channels and devices enabled by our speech-to-text(STT) and text-to-speech(TTS) cognitive services.”

Sashikumar Sreedharan, Managing Director – Microsoft India said, “More human interactions mean new opportunities. Azure Cognitive Services help people interact simply and naturally with technology and make engagement with services more human, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. We believe our collaboration will help Yellow Messenger transform voice automation and enable enterprises across industries to take their customer relationships to a new level.”

Yellow Messenger has natively integrated Azure Cognitive Services on its platform, for improved customer experience and operational efficiency without compromising on security. This covers the following areas:

Accurate understanding and conversion of end customers’ voice to text across channels, using Azure’s real time Speech to Text (STT) translation capabilities for more intuitive interaction. Azure STT allows tailoring speech of recognition models to adapt to users’ speaking styles, expressions, and unique vocabularies, and also to accommodate background noises, accents, and voice patterns.  This is being implemented for customers across industries, including banking, FMCG and the public sector.

Improved voice output for end customers on telephony and web channels, applying Azure Text to Speech (TTS) services. Following the processing of the user’s inbound query, the bot converts the text back to speech and responds to the user in near real time in a natural, lifelike voice.

Building custom voice bot models using the Azure Speech stack for specific industry verticals such as banking for higher accuracy.

Self-serve customer support – Two of India’s largest private banks are currently using Yellow Messenger’s voice virtual assistants for inbound and outbound customer service. Up to 65% support queries can be addressed and resolved by voice AI assistants so that customer care teams can focus on critical issues.

TagMango launches an app to further scale and reach and experience

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The homegrown, creator monetization startup TagMango today announced the launch of their app further strengthening their mission of turning Indian creators into entrepreneurs, through sophisticated tools helping them scale communities and unlock revenue streams.

Having already onboarded 3000+ organic creators in the soft launch, TagMango’s platform helps creators build engagement-driven communities to which their audiences and followers can subscribe, ensuring a regular brand-independent avenue to monetize for them.

The key features of the newly launched app are targeted at the growth and sustainability of the large creator base that India has seen growing immensely in a short span of time. The app launch comes offering benefits for both creators and consumers alike. Starting with creators, they can use this as a platform to build paid communities and strengthen their revenue streams, they have the freedom to put out exclusive content without having to worry about algorithms.

Divyanshu Damani and Mohammad Hasan, Founders, TagMango said, “The last few years have seen a deep internet penetration in India, especially in the Tier-II & III cities. Today, anyone with a smartphone has the opportunity to try their hands at becoming a creator and build their own revenue streams. With the growth in India’s creator base at such a large scale, there is an urgent need for platforms that enable them to build content that not only generates interest out of it to churn out content that entertains, informs but also empowers the creators to earn a sustained living. Our app is aimed to further expand our network of creators and foster a more seamless, technologically advanced, feature-laden, and interactive experience for creators to build their content business. We are looking forward to seeing the app become a go-to platform for India to create and consume content like never seen before”.

With a founding team that has successfully built their own individual following as creators, TagMango understands both the need-gaps that exist for Indian creators and what brands and audiences look for in their creators. Harnessing these insights and on-ground expertise they are targeting the next 500 million internet users of India. TagMango is on track to introduce the Indian creator ecosystem and brands to the power of communities and mobilize them through customized and hyperpersonal engagement.

Similar platforms in the west, namely Patreon and OnlyFans have already seen a huge audience, creator base usher in. According to Patreon (which artists use to offer exclusive content to more than 4 million patrons in over 180 countries) saw over 70,000 new creators have launched on the platform since mid-March 2020, they enjoy a presence of 1MN creators on the platform and get about 7000-8000 new content creators joining them each day. These figures and reports are testament to the untapped potential of Indian creator economy and monetization is highly credible. Having a platform that helps create such rewarding revenue models for creators, is what TagMango is working towards to build similar credibility and importance of such a model here in India.

An early adopter of the platform, Prakhar Gupta, a social commentator, cultural critic, and a shining public figure in the personal development domain used the TagMango to conduct a 3-day workshop named Decamind, that was aimed at helping the users develop a goal-setting, performance maximization and  potential mapping tools to help an individual get ready for the new decade. The workshop was a great success with about 130 subscribers and in a span of 7 days of holding the workshop, Prakhar’s total earnings were standing close to INR 2 lakhs.

Talking about the experience and his workshop success, Prakhar said, “It was an absolutely incredible experience to hold the Decamind workshop on the TagMango platform. I was exposed to a large audience base that was also absolutely relevant for the theme of my workshop. I was amazed to see how seamlessly I could reach out to an audience base that was also looking for something similar and to watch yourself make an impact is priceless. Adding to the exposure, the model not only helped me generate interesting content but also led me to enjoy impressive revenue in just a span of 7 days”.

Yamaha Music launches 2 new AV receivers in India

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Yamaha Music India has announced the launch of two new RX-V AV receivers in the Indian market. These devices can transform your home into an entertainment bliss for movies, music, gaming and more.

This launch of the RX-V line by the Gurgaon-headquartered company, which is a part of Japan’s Yamaha worldwide group of companies, gains significance in the home entertainment market in India, where the demand for devices that improve the overall entertainment experience has increased significantly amidst remote working becoming a mainstay post the lockdown.

While the RX-V4A model offers five channels of support, the RX-V6A models will offer seven channels of support. Both models are also built to support and pass through the highest resolution content available, whether you’re 4K-ready or preparing for 8K.

The latest offering by Yamaha is unique in the sense that no other AV receiver available currently in the market offers as many 8K HDMI inputs as Yamaha’s, with three on the RX-V6A (7 inputs total) and all four inputs on the RX-V4A.

Adding more to the overall entertainment experience is the authentic true sound expression that Yamaha is uniquely positioned to understand and recreate. Sitting at home, you get to recreate an immersive movie theater or a live concert setting or an ultimate gaming experience with the help of the AV receiver.

M.V. Prasad, Business Head, Consumer Audio, Yamaha Music India said, “We’ve modernized the AV receiver to fit your emerging needs – from the rising size and resolution of TV screens to the speed and life-like realism of the latest gaming consoles and platforms. We’re here to ensure that your gear is ready for these latest innovations, complementing the stunning visuals on your screen with thrilling sound all around you. Bring the theater home, put yourself in the center of the action, and build the immersive experience you and your family deserves.”

Advances to the RX-V lineup in 2021 are the most significant to date, beginning with a new look, inside and out, with a simplified, modern design that features a brand new, high-resolution LCD display and a jog dial with touch-sensitive buttons.

The brilliant look is matched by capabilities and support for the most stunning audio and visual experiences. This includes HDMI 2.1 compatibility, providing faster, smoother and uninterrupted entertainment and gameplay with auto low latency mode (ALLM), variable refresh rates (VRR), quick frame transport (QFT) and quick media switching (QMS).

This is especially helpful for compatibility not only with Ultra HD TVs and emerging 8K setups, but also in preparation for the latest gaming platforms arriving in 2021. To support the use of powered HDMI cables for longer wiring needs, the company has boosted the power supply from HDMI outputs to 300mA.

Both models offer the entire suite of MusicCast capabilities and app control, including Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, built-in music streaming services and multi-room audio. In addition, both the RX-V4A and RX-V6A offer MusicCast Surround, allowing optional wireless MusicCast speakers to be paired and used as surrounds in a 5.1-ch. setup without the need for speaker wire to the AV receiver.

All inputs on the RX-V4A and the RX-V6A model support Dolby Vision. In addition to DTS-X and Dolby Atmos, the RX-V6A goes even further by offering Dolby Atmos with Height Virtualization, simulating the overhead sound experience for an immersive, 360-degree sound field in a number of speaker configurations.

vivo Launches Y20G with Powerful Helio G80 and 5000mAh Battery

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The Chinese smartphone maker, vivo, has expanded its Y-series line-up with the launch of vivo Y20G. Priced at Rs 14,990 for 6GB+128GB storage variant, the Y20G will be available in two attractive colors — Obsidian Black and Purist Blue on vivo India E-store, Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Tatacliq, and across all partner retail stores.

For gaming enthusiasts, the vivo Y20G features Helio G80 octa-core processor which makes the device stands out and give users a highly responsive gaming experience. The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) offers 98% more power, higher image quality and stronger performance. The processor also incorporates the HyperEngine Game Technology that speeds up game load time and provides a seamless gaming experience.

Along with the power packed gaming performance, the smartphone offers colourful display with 6.51-inch Halo FullView display, an aspect ratio of 20:9 and HD+ (1600×720) resolution. The device also features an impressive side fingerprint scanner which unlocks the phone in just 0.17s. For continuous movie streaming and intensive gaming, vivo Y20G packs a massive 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charge technology.

The smartphone features an AI Triple camera-setup that provides enhanced photography capabilities and is supported by a wide range of features. The main 13MP camera with f/2.2 large aperture and PDAF technology captures impressive details, the 2MP Bokeh camera boasts greater depth which delivers stunning results, and the Super Macro camera draws focus as close as 4cms. The vivo Y20G also offers 8MP camera for a perfect selfie experience.

Jabra launches new colour variants of Elite 85t earbuds in India

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Jabra announces the availability of the Elite 85t ANC earbuds in four new colors: Gold/Beige, Copper/Black, Black, and Grey. The Jabra Elite 85t was launched in early December in Titanium Black and is part of the newly announced ANC range added to Jabra’s award-winning compact true wireless portfolio.

Users now have the opportunity to enjoy outstanding call quality, adjustable Jabra Advanced ANCTM, and the immaculate sound quality of the Elite 85t in a color that best represents them. Whether they’re wanting to add some glamor to their commute in Gold/Beige, enjoy a podcast in Grey or belt out their favorite songs in all Black – the Jabra Elite 85t has an option for everyone.

The flexible working trend is set to continue during 2021, and with that comes a demand for the ability to take calls anywhere. The Jabra Elite 85t earbuds bring outstanding call quality for the user and the person on the other end, thanks to the 6-mic technology (three on each earbud, two on the outside, one on the inside).

The microphones on the inside and outside of the earbuds are used to provide Jabra Advanced ANCTM, which goes beyond an on/off solution. Users are offered a more personalized experience with the dual slider which goes from full ANC to full HearThrough, and anywhere in between.

The 12mm speakers allow the Jabra Elite 85t to produce a big sound and powerful bass, while still enhancing comfort and relieving ear pressure with its semi-open design. Jabra has also adapted the ear gels to an oval shape providing a better sealing in the ear, while ensuring they stay in place. This means the tower of the Elite 85t does not sit as deeply within the ear, giving users a more comfortable earbud and a good seal. With ANC on, the earbuds boast a battery life of up to 5.5 hours, with up to 25 hours in the compact charging case and are Qi-qualified – for wireless charging.

Amitesh Punhani, Country Marketing Manager, India & SAARC at Jabra said, “We are excited to offer four new colour variants of our recently launched Elite 85t. Our users now have an opportunity to accent their look and enjoy the sleek design and sound in many more styles, giving consumers more options to choose from.”

Users can enjoy the premium ANC to its fullest extent, by adjusting between full ANC to create a private quiet space, and at the other end of the spectrum, to use the HearThrough feature for full transparency, letting in your surroundings, and creating a personalized ANC experience.

Jabra Elite 85t is priced at Rs 18,999 and will be available on Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Reliance and Jabra authorized resellers from Jan 19th, 2020. Jabra

Noise launches Truly Wireless Earbuds Noise Elan, its first-ever ENC earbuds

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Noise, the Indian connected lifestyle brand, has announced the launch of its first-ever Environmental Noise Cancelling (ENC) Truly Wireless System earbuds – Noise Elan which suppresses environmental noise.

At present, the ENC earbuds are available at a special launch price of Rs 3499 for a few days, afterwards, the earbuds will be priced at Rs 3999. It also comes with a charging case and is embedded with LED light indicators for charging. Along with the company’s website, the product is also available during Amazon’s Great Republic Day Sale 2021. With this offering, the company has now expanded its portfolio of products in the TWS audio category.

Launched in a Shadow Grey (Black) color, the newly launched earbuds not only offer great call and sound quality along with four mics (a quad microphone system) but are also be equipped with a dual-mic in each earbud for better voice clarity. The improved sound quality is further be empowered by a 6mm Titanium speaker driver with ENC technology.

Noise Elan comes with a power-efficient Bluetooth 5.2 system along with a type-C charging facility. One of the most fascinating qualities of the product is its battery life that offers 8 hours’ worth of playtime on a single charge and up to 36 hours of total playtime. It offers transparency mode to keep the user aware of the world around him and amplification of ambient sound.

Gaurav Khatri, Co-Founder, Noise said, “We are excited to announce the new addition to one of our bestselling product categories of TWS earbuds. Our products are designed with cutting edge technology captivating consumers’ requirement for an advanced wireless audio system. With the Noise Elan, we aim to offer our customers an uninterrupted audio experience that enables Noisemakers to make the most of everything with the sound made smarter.”

Hike Messenger shuts down services in India

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Homegrown instant messaging app Hike Messenger, later known as Hike Sticker Chat, has been officially shut down. The company’s chief executive officer Kavin Bharti Mittal announced the shutdown of its operations recently.

Taking the over to Twitter, Mittal Tweeted, “Today we are announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan’21. We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn’t be here without you. All your data will be available to download in the app.”

The app has been removed from Playstore and Apple’s App Store. Users can download their data inside the application. However, the announcement does not mean an end to other apps in development by the company.

The end of Hike’s messenger service comes at a time when Signal and Telegram have added tens of millions of users in recent weeks. Launched in December 2012, Hike was once regarded as a competition to global messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Viber.

Hike has so far raised over $260 million from investors, including Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, manufacturing firm Foxconn Technology Group and the Bharti group.