Enterprise application software revenue in India to dip by 1.3%

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Enterprise application software revenue in India to dip by 1.3%

Enterprise application software vendor revenue in India is forecast to decline 1.3 percent this year and total $2.58 billion before rebounding next year, said a Gartner report on Tuesday.

Although the market is expected to grow 8.3 percent in 2021, the growth will be slower than the 14 percent growth it experienced in 2019, according to the forecast.

Globally, enterprise application software revenue will decline by 2.2 percent in 2020, to total $237 billion.

In India, all enterprise applications software markets will shrink in 2020 except the content services and customer experience and relationship management (CRM) markets.

“Spending on enterprise applications software is expected to shrink in 2020 due to recession caused by Covid-19 across industries,” Neha Gupta, Research Director at Gartner, said in a statement.

“The large decline in enterprise applications software spending is also due to some companies going out of business, in addition to the reduced workforce across industries, especially in transportation, manufacturing, and natural resource industries.”

In 2020, CRM software revenue will grow 2.5 percent, followed by content services revenue which will increase by 0.8 percent.

Analytics and business intelligence software revenue will be the worst hit in India in 2020, as it will decline by 3.9 percent.

Email and authoring software revenue, which experienced the highest growth in 2019 will decline by 1.2 percent in 2020, according to the forecast.

“We expect the market to start recovering by 2021, although the growth will be muted as organizations will observe prudence. Organizations will continue to put new long-term projects on hold and cut the scope of high-cost projects through 2020,” said Gupta.

Covid-19 taking heavy mental health toll on people: Study

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Covid-19 taking heavy mental health toll on people: Study

New research has added to the growing body of evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic is taking a heavy mental health toll even on people who are not directly impacted by the disease.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, found that people in countries with low rates of infection and fatalities — like Australia at the onset of the pandemic — still experience twice as much depression and anxiety.

These outcomes are largely related to financial stress and disruptions in people’s social lives.

“We already know from past pandemic research that the people who are most affected, such as those who become ill and/or are hospitalized and their careers affected, experience more severe impacts,” said study author Amy Dawel from the Australian National University.

“However, the impacts of Covid-19 on the broader population in relatively less affected countries are also likely to be substantial.

“Our data show that the by-products of Covid-19 are affecting populations broadly and the concern is that countries with strong restrictions, who appear to circumvent the worst of Covid-19, may overlook the indirect impacts of the pandemic,” Dawel added.

To capture a snapshot of the population’s mental health just after the first Covid-19 restrictions went into effect, the research team surveyed nearly 1,300 Australian adults.

Since the survey occurred in the early stages of the pandemic, only 36 participants reported having received a Covid-19 diagnosis or having a close contact who had been diagnosed.

There were also relatively few people who had been tested, had self-isolated, or who had known anyone who had any of these experiences.

Surprisingly, these cases of Covid-19 contact showed no link to mental health impact.

In contrast, financial distress and disruptions in work and social activities were significantly associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as lower psychological well-being. However, working from home wasn’t associated with any negative effects.

Higher rates of mental health symptoms were also found among people who were younger, identified themselves as female, or who reported having a pre-existing mental health condition.

“We hope that these data highlight that the way countries manage Covid-19 is likely to impact their population’s mental health, beyond those most directly affected by the disease,” Dawel said.

Recently, a study published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour found that the excessive use of social media for Covid-19 health information is related to both depression and secondary trauma.

Rohit Sharma just 86 short of 4,000 runs for MI

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Rohit Sharma just 86 short of 4,000 runs for MI

As Mumbai Indians (MI) get ready to take on an off-color Rajasthan Royals (RR) here on Tuesday, MI captain Rohit Sharma will particularly look forward to scoring 86 more runs that will take him to 4,000 runs while representing his home city in the IPL.

Rohit, though, has also represented the erstwhile Deccan Chargers.

Team-wise, however, there is little to differentiate between RR MI in the IPL. Both teams have won 10 games each in head to head contests. But on current form, MI look favorites.

RR has a handful of concerns. Robin Uthappa’s poor form is one of these. With Ben Stokes still in quarantine, the 2008 champions will have to look elsewhere for a turn in their fortunes.

Will Royals include talented Yashasvi Jaiswal, the 18-year-old a left-handed batsman? Or will they consolidate their pace department with the inclusion of maybe Varun Aaron?

On the other hand, reigning champions MI will aim to displace Delhi Capitals from the top of the points table with another win at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

The Rohit Sharma-led MI will aim for a hat-trick of wins after winning their previous two games against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) comprehensively.

While the Steve Smith-led RR started their campaign with a bang but later looked to be out of track as they have now two defeats on the trot.

Four-time champions MI has been clinical in all the departments of the game. Batsmen Rohit and Ishan Kishan have been in sublime form while Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, and Keiron Pollard have also equally supported the top-order with their cameos down the order.

Their major concern, Quinton de Kock, has finally regained touch after his blistering 67 against SRH.

Meanwhile, MI bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah, James Pattinson and Trent Boult — have also performed decently enough as they have succeeded in giving some tough time to the opposition. The trio has received good support from their spinners Rahul Chahar and Krunal, who have come with breakthroughs whenever their side needed.

In such a scenario, the MI think-tank is unlikely going to tinker their winning combination against RR.

RR was on the winning side in their first two games in Sharjah, which has a small boundary than the other two venues and the track too assisted the batters. However, a change in the venue also resulted in the downfall of RR as they failed to adapt to the conditions and were on the receiving end in their last two games.

RR’s batsmen, barring opener Sanju Samson, have failed to get going. Their star batsmen like Steve Smith and Jos Buttler seem to be struggling with the willow while Rahul Tewatia has also failed to keep the momentum going. Then, young Riyan Parag has not been up to the expectation and the RR think-tank might opt to drop him against MI.

In their bowling, except Jofra Archer, who too, has been average so far, the other RR bowlers have failed to click. Pacer Jaydev Unadkat and Tom Curran to have let their team down on various occasions and the RR team management would likely drop any of the two in order to possibly accommodate Varun Aaron.

While the Jharkhand pacer hasn’t played any game so far, but his ability to generate good bounce and bowl consistently around 140 kph could help him get a call in the playing XI. Shreyas Gopal and Tewatia would once again share the spin workload but they need to be economical beside getting wickets at regular intervals.

Amazon announces its Great Indian Festival from Oct 17

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Amazon announces its Great Indian Festival from Oct 17

Amazon India on Tuesday announced its Great Indian Festival (GIF) from October 17, a day after Flipkart will kick off its ‘Big Billion Days’ sale. Amazon Prime members will get early access starting October 16.

More than 6.5 lakh sellers will offer crores of products on Amazon.in and customers can shop from over 4 crore products from small and medium businesses (SMBs) and products from over 20,000 local shops across 100 cities, Amazon.in said in a statement.

The customers can save more with 10 percent instant discount with HDFC Bank debit and credit cards, no-Cost EMI on credit and debit cards, exchange offers, and win daily shopping rewards worth Rs 10,000 on Amazon Pay.

“This year’s Great Indian Festival is an opportunity for our sellers and partners to reach millions of customers across the country. Our sellers are excited and expect this to help them in accelerating their business,” said Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon India said.

The customers can look forward to over 900 new product launches from top brands.

“For our customers, our aim is to help them find everything they need during the festive season and deliver it safely to them”.

Over one lakh local shops and kiranas have been enabled by Amazon to serve customers during the festive season.

The customers can now use voice to quickly narrow their search for products, top deals, including Alexa-exclusive deals, Amazon.in said.

Indians can shop in one of the six languages — English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

“The MSME buyers can save big on their business purchases with bulk discounts and exclusive deals on a wide range of commercial selection on Amazon Business,” the company announced.

Pre-book Rs 49,999 Samsung Galaxy S20 FE in India from Oct 9

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Pre-book Rs 49,999 Samsung Galaxy S20 FE in India from Oct 9

Samsung on Tuesday launched its much-anticipated Galaxy S20 Fan Edition for Rs 49,999 with exciting offers in India.

Consumers can pre-book Galaxy S20 FE starting October 9 and avail special benefits worth Rs 8,000 in upgrade bonus and cashback.

“Galaxy S20 FE includes all the innovations our consumers love the most and it is being made available at an accessible price point. It is an epitome of our consistent effort to deliver the best to our millennial consumers enabling them to do what they love,” said Aditya Babbar, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India.

It has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage with up to 1TB microSD card support.

Galaxy S20 FE comes in five colors — Cloud Red, Cloud Lavender, Cloud Mint, Cloud Navy, and Cloud White.

The smartphone has a 6.5-inch Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with 120 Hz super smooth scrolling display, an AI-powered camera, advanced Exynos 990 chipset, a 4500mAh battery, and expandable storage.

The Galaxy S20 FE is water and dust resistant IP68 rated.

Housing 30X Space Zoom, Galaxy S20 FE brings a pro-grade triple camera at the rear (12MP Ultra Wide camera, 12MP Wide-angle camera, and 8MP Telephoto camera), along with the 32MP selfie camera that includes tetra-binning technology that will let the users instantly capture a post-worthy picture.

Galaxy S20 FE features large image sensors including AI multi-frame processing. With Night Mode, one can take clearer images, even in low light.

The device is powered by a 7nm Exynos 990 processor and comes with a 4500mAh battery that lasts all day.

It features wireless power share and wireless fast charging and supports 25W Super-Fast charging.

The device also features a premium textured haze effect that minimizes fingerprints and smudges, the company said.

Currently focussing on skill-based training of individuals, says Reid

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Currently focussing on skill-based training of individuals, says Reid

The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams, both of whom are based out of the Netaji Subhash Southern Centre in Bengaluru, have resumed their training after practice had been halted due to the nationwide lockdown imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Six players, including captain Manpreet Singh on their arrival at the camp after taking a break, had tested positive for Covid-19. “I tested positive and when I returned back to training, we slowly started the procedures of getting back to play. The coaches have created a plan so that we gradually return to full momentum and I am really happy to be back practicing again,” said Manpreet as per an SAI media release.

Meanwhile, men’s head coach Graham Reid said that the emphasis at the moment is on skill-based training focusing on individual basics which allows training to take place in small groups while maintaining social distancing.

“Using the SAI SOPs for various disciplines, we have been able to gradually increase the workload and intensity of the training to the point where we are able to have the majority of the squad up to pre-COVID levels by the end of the next camp. This has been a slow and deliberate process designed to produce maximum output while minimizing the risk of injury.”

Women’s team captain Rani said it feels good that they have started training after such a long time and are slowly bringing their bodies back to the same level which further allows them to train the way they used to earlier.

“Alongside that, whatever safety protocols are is in place, we are following that and we hope we return to our old form and rhythm in the next few months. But at the moment, it is important that we keep ourselves safe by following all protocols and train within them,” said Rani.

Odisha reports 2,673 more corona cases, 16 deaths

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Odisha reports 2,673 more corona cases, 16 deaths

Odisha reported 2,673 more coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the state’s total tally to 2,38,003 and active cases to 30,610, a health official said on Tuesday.

As many as 206,400 patients have recovered from the disease so far in Odisha, which also reported another 16 fatalities during the period. Odisha’s COVID-19 death toll now is 940.

Khordha recorded the highest 448 new cases, followed by Cuttack (214), Nuapada (159), and Kendrapara (151).

Four deaths were reported from Balasore district, three from Khordha district, two from Cuttack district, and one each from Angul, Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Subarnapur, Puri, and Boudh districts.

Of the new cases, 1,554 were from among quarantined persons and 1,119 local contact cases.

Team India should go ahead with Pant as Dhoni’s replacement, says Nehra

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Team India should go ahead with Pant as Dhoni’s replacement, says Nehra

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar believes Rishabh Pant is a perfect replacement for MS Dhoni in the national side as the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman provides Team India with a much-needed balance in the middle order, which is full of right-handers.

Pant has been in good form in the ongoing Indian Premier League, scoring 171 runs in the five matches he has played for the Delhi Capitals.

“In terms of wicket-keeping, I think it would be Rishabh Pant. I think the way he started this year’s IPL and I think it is very important to have a left-hander as an option because for Team India when it comes to the middle-order as it helps to balance out the right-handers,” said Bangar while speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Meanwhile, former India pacer Ashish Nehra also supported Bangar’s point of view on Pant and said: “I am in total agreement with Sanjay Bangar. I think they should go ahead with Rishabh Pant. Pant should be backed. Every player needs to be backed when it comes to international cricket.”

Dhoni retired from international cricket in August after representing India in 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20Is while affecting a staggering 829 dismissals behind the stumps across formats.

Pant, who has so far played 13 Tests, 16 ODIs and 28 T20Is, was touted as Dhoni’s successor but he hasn’t been able to put up consistent performances when playing for the national side. He was replaced behind the stumps, in limited-overs formats, in New Zealand by KL Rahul when the Men in Blue last played international cricket.

Djokovic, Tsitsipas advance to French Open quarters

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Djokovic, Tsitsipas advance to French Open quarters

World number one Novak Djokovic has entered the quarterfinals of the French Open, defeating 15th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in his fourth-round contest.

On Monday, Djokovic defeated 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 over the Russian 15th seed in a match that lasted for two hours and 23 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier. He will now face No.17 seed Carreno Busta in his last eight encounters.

Meanwhile, Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek player in history to reach the quarter-finals at the Roland Garros, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-2. He will next lock horns with Andrey Rublev, who had the upper hand against him in their Hamburg final just eight days ago.

“It is very important for me to take this opportunity and fight harder this time, maybe do something better,” said Tsitsipas, who also fell to the Russian No.13 seed at the US Open last year.

“He’s going to be difficult to play against. He has a very complete, solid game from all the departments. He has improved a lot his serve. He relies a lot on his power. He has very powerful shots. I think he for sure brings the best out of me when I step out on the court to play against him,” he added.

In other men’s singles quarterfinal matches, Rafael Nadal will face Jannik Sinner of Italy while Dominic Thiem will be competing against 12th seed Diego Schwartzman.

Over 100 brands, 200 special edition products at Flipkart BBD sale

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Over 100 brands, 200 special edition products at Flipkart BBD sale

Flipkart on Tuesday said it will unveil over 200 special edition products in partnership with more than 100 leading brands during its ‘Big Billion Days sale that begins from October 16 till October 21.

The products will be across categories including fashion, electronics, mobile phones, large appliances, personal care, handicrafts, and others.

“The phenomenal response we received from the entire ecosystem for the Big Billion Days Specials in 2019 encouraged us to partner with an even larger number of brands and celebrities to make it extra special for consumers this year,” said Nandita Sinha, Vice President–Events, Engagement & Merchandising at Flipkart.

The number of partnerships for this year’s ‘Big Billion Days Specials’ has more than doubled.

Some of the Big Billion Days Specials that customers will get access to this year include Motorola (India’s first 3-in-1 smart wireless device), an ethnic range curated by actress Kareena Kapoor for Imara; exclusive Virat Kohli Line of One8 products; Denver which is Shahrukh Khan’s new autograph range; Bluestar virus deactivator AC; Nokia smart TVs and more.

Some of the Big Billion Days Specials products will give customers a chance to meet favorite celebrities, including Virat Kohli, Salman Khan, and Ananya Pandey said the company.

“We are confident our partnerships and special edition products will help onboard new customers and chart a sharper growth trajectory for our partner brands,” Sinha said.

Kicking off the festive season, Flipkart has announced its flagship, six-day ‘The Big Billion Days’ sale that will start from October 16 till October 21 with some exciting offers across categories.

Flipkart Plus customers will have early access to the sale on October 15.

The e-commerce marketplace has onboarded over 50,000 kiranas to bring festive cheer to consumers across 850 cities.

Homegrown Boult Audio launches LED light powered earbuds

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Homegrown Boult Audio launches LED light powered earbuds

Homegrown audio accessories brand Boult Audio on Tuesday launched LED-powered earbuds called Zigbuds on Amazon.in.

Priced at Rs 2,499, the Zigbuds comes with IPX7 water-resistant feature and is equipped with a 10mm neodymium driver along with a high-capacity lithium-ion battery delivering 18 hours of playback time on a single charge.

“With the standby time of 80 hours and transmission distance 20 meters, Zigbuds are designed for high-end audiophiles to fashion-conscious to active consumers,” the company said in a statement.

According to the company, the product comes with high-class drivers and electronics with immaculate design and build quality.

Additionally, Zigbuds comes with an inbuilt mic and touch control to switch instantly between music and phone.

Available in three colors — white-grey, black-grey, and red, Zigbuds comes with an in-built mic and touch control to switch instantly between music and phone.

LinkedIn launches disappearing ‘Stories’ feature in India

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LinkedIn launches disappearing ‘Stories’ feature in India

Professional networking platform LinkedIn on Tuesday launched the ‘Stories’ feature in India which allows members to publish photos and videos up to 20 seconds long that will be visible on their profiles for 24 hours before disappearing.

The “Stories” allow members to send messages to connections and followers, and mention/tag connections in a Story.

They can also see who has viewed their Story, increasing engagement, and giving insight on activity for the posts.

Additionally, features such as ‘Question of the Day’, ask members what they’re working on or how they recharge on their day off, and their Story responses help members start new conversations, acting as ice-breakers, the company said in a statement.

LinkedIn members can share their everyday professional moments such as work-from-home setups, daily routines, work motivations, events, team calls, industry news, and insights quickly and with ease as it does not stay on a member’s permanent profile.

“Along with the launch of Stories, we have also introduced a host of platform enhancements that offer an inclusive and enjoyable LinkedIn experience,” Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn, said in a statement.

For India, the platform also launched six localized stickers that serve as quirky depictions of the work-life unique to the country — Auto Rickshaw, Jugaad, Chai-Time, Cricket, Yoga, and India written in kitsch design that can double up as a way to highlight your location.

The platform also introduced a new, streamlined search experience, which will introduce a blended search results page with defined recommendations organized by people, companies, schools, content, and online events.

India’s daily Covid spike lowest since August

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India’s daily Covid spike lowest since August

India on Tuesday reported 61,267 fresh infections of the novel Coronavirus, taking the case tally to 66,85,082, health officials said. This is the lowest daily spike since August.

Though the cases are increasing, the recovery rate is 84.34 percent in India which is less than Chile that has over 92 percent cure rate, while the US that tops the Covid-19 cases in the world has around 33 percent recovery rate.

The fatality rate has come down to 1.55 percent, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Of the 20 worst affected nations, India has the lowest mortality rate, while Mexico has the highest of 10.4 percent and the UK next at 8.8 percent, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Out of the total cases, 9,19,023 are currently active, 56,62,490 have been discharged, while 1,03,569 lost the battle against the viral disease.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit with a total of 14,53,653 cases, including 38,347 deaths; followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 10,89,403 sample tests in a single day on Monday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 8,10,71,797.

Bigg Boss 14: Pavitra Punia slams ex-beau and BB 13 star Paras Chhabra

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Bigg Boss 14: Pavitra Punia slams ex-beau and BB 13 star Paras Chhabra

television actress Pavitra Punia, who is currently a housemate in the 14th season of the controversial reality show Bigg Boss, has opened up on her former boyfriend and Bigg Boss 13 star, Paras Chhabra. Last year on the show, Paras was often heard talking about Pavitra in the house, though not exactly in glowing terms.

Would she give a hard-hitting reply to the comments Paras had made, now that she is on the same show?

“I did not answer then during “Bigg Boss 13″, when I was hearing everything. When he said those things in the house, I didn’t say anything. I won’t say anything now. People who don’t exist for me, what can I comment on for them?” Pavitra replied.

She says she does not find it unfair that her name was discussed on the show last year. Without taking names, Pavitra added that Paras did not respect his then-girlfriend Akanksha Puri either and that he does not have any existence in her life.

“No, it is not unfair. Jisne itna kiya uske liye, woh uska sagah nahi ho paaya, toh aise insaan ke liye comment kya karna hai (He couldn’t be loyal to the person who did so much for him, why would I even comment on such a person)?” she told IANS.

Pavitra added: “I don’t exist in his life, he doesn’t exist in my life. But he didn’t respect the one who did exist in his life. Do you think Pavitra Punia would comment on such a person?”

She was previously seen in the reality show “Splitsvilla 3”, and says “Bigg Boss” is a big platform.

“I feel all platforms are made for something. ‘Bigg Boss’ is a big platform for those whose careers stop after a point. There are ups and downs in everyone’s lives. There is a time when fame is with you. And when it starts going down then ‘Bigg Boss’ is the platform that turns out to be a rising point,” she said.

Pavitra added that over the years the show has changed, and become so big that active stars are also taking part.

“It is a rising platform for people who are not doing well in life. However, over the recent past, this has changed. People who find work are also on the show,” she said.

OCA receives bid documents from 2030 Asian Games candidate cities

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OCA receives bid documents from 2030 Asian Games candidate cities

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has received official bids from the cities of Doha, Qatar, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia offering to host the 21st Asian Games slated to be held in 2030.

The OCA Evaluation Committee, chaired by Wei Jizhong, Life Vice President OCA, will be visiting both the candidate cities in the third week of October to assess the bids, the organization stated in a media release on Monday.

The host city of the 21st Asian Games 2030 will be decided at the 39th OCA General Assembly, due to be held in Muscat, Oman, on December 16.

The 19th Asian Games will be held in the city of Hangzhou, China, from September 10-25, 2022 and the 20th Asian Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in 2026.

Rabada takes over Purple Cap from Chahal, Orange stays with KL

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Rabada takes over Purple Cap from Chahal, Orange stays with KL

Kings XI Punjab captain KL Rahul continues to hold the Orange Cap while the Purple Cap is now with Delhi Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada following the conclusion of the 19th IPL 2020 match which the Shreyas Iyer-led side won by 59 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rahul has scored 302 runs — including one hundred and two half-centuries — in five matches so far and leads the chart for the leading run-scorers. He is followed by Chennai Super Kings’ Faf du Plessis who has 282 runs to his name from five games. Kings XI opener Mayank Agarwal is third on the list with 272 runs.

In the bowlers’ list, Rabada has 12 wickets from five games and leads the chart. He is followed by Yuzvendra Chahal who has scalped eight wickets in five games and Trent Boult who also has eight wickets from five matches to his name.

These running caps are presented to the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker and keep changing hands throughout the duration of the tournament.

In the points table, Delhi Capitals are currently at the numero uno spot with eight points from five games. They are followed by Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore who both have six points from five matches.

Apple removes third party audio products from online store

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Apple removes third party audio products from online store

Apple has removed third-party audio products from Bose, Sonos and Logitech from its Store Online and have apparently told retail stores to follow the same — a move that indicates more high-end products coming soon in the audio category from the Cupertino-based tech giant.

According to a CNBC report, “a visit to the speakers and headphones category on Apple’s online store only displayed Apple products”.

According to TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is working on a high-end set of over-ear headphones that will carry its own brand instead of the Beats brand.

Sonos stock fell more than 2 percent in extended trading after the news that was first reported by Bloomberg.

Apple manufactures several audio products under its Beats brand as well as AirPods wireless earbuds and HomePod smart speakers under its own brand.

Apple or the affected audio brands were yet to comment.

The removal of online sales of third-party headphones, earphones, speakers, and other devices indicates that Apple is prepared to debut new audio products like AirPods Studio and an affordable HomePod.

Apple also stopped selling Fitbit wearables after the launch of Apple Watch in 2014.

The iPhone maker is likely to launch an AirPods Studio over-the-ear headphone with noise-canceling technology and premium sound reproduction.

A new HomePod variant with the smaller form factor and reduced price is also likely to arrive soon.

In the June quarter, Apple reported $6.45 billion in other product revenue, which accounted for about 10 per cent of its sales.

Facebook awards $10K for finding bug in its Android app

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Facebook awards $10K for finding bug in its Android app

A security researcher has found a vulnerability in the download feature of Facebook’s Android app that could be exploited to launch remote code execution (RCE) attacks. The social networking giant awarded the researcher $10,000 for finding the bug.

Facebook’s Android app uses two methods of downloading files from a group — a built-in Android service called DownloadManager and a second method called Files Tab.

Security researcher Sayed Abdelhafiz discovered a path traversal flaw in the second method.

“I discovered an ACE on Facebook for Android that can be triaged through a download file from group Files Tab without opening the file,” he said in a post on Medium.

The vulnerability was in the second method. While security measures were implemented on the server-side when uploading the files, it was easy to bypass those.

“The first idea that came to my mind was to use path traversal to overwrite native libraries which will lead to executing arbitrary code,” Abdelhafiz said.

Abdelhafiz explained how the Files Tab flaw enabled the researcher to launch RCE attacks against a target device.

The vulnerability in the Files Tab has now been fixed.

In June this year, Ahmedabad-based security researcher Bipin Jitiya won Rs 23.8 lakh ($31,500) from Facebook for identifying a bug in its social networking platform and a third-party business intelligence portal.

Jitiya, 26, identified the web security vulnerability in internal blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) in the source code of a publicly accessible endpoint, built using tools from MicroStrategy, that performed custom data collection and content generation.

MicroStrategy has partnered with Facebook on data analytics projects for several years. Jitiya reported the bug to the MicroStrategy’s security team, who acknowledged it, saying the issue has been mitigated.

In May, a 27-year-old Indian security researcher Bhavuk Jain grabbed $100,000 (over Rs 75.5 lakh) from Apple for discovering a now-patched Zero-Day vulnerability in the Sign in with Apple account authentication.

The Zero-Day vulnerability could have allowed a hacker to break into an Apple user’s account who log into third-party apps like Dropbox, Spotify, Airbnb, and Giphy (now acquired by Facebook) and more.

UP: 4 held for thrashing man, urinating on him

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UP: 4 held for thrashing man, urinating on him

Four persons have been arrested for allegedly beating a man, urinating on him, and snapping his “janeu” (sacred thread) over a land dispute, in the Sakarpar area of Deoria district.

The man posted a video on his Twitter account, in which he narrated the entire story. He also lodged a complaint with the police.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Shishyapal, told reporters, “One Anish Chand Dwivedi has a land dispute with his neighbor Satish Yadav. On Sunday night, Anish posted a video on Twitter stating that he had been beaten up by the accused who also urinated in his mouth and broke his janeu.”

The SP said that all the four accused have been arrested on Monday and a case has been registered under the requisite sections.

Agra records 88.37% Covid recovery rate

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Agra records 88.37% Covid recovery rate

Even though Agra has been reporting new cases every day, the recovery rate is above 88 percent, the state health data has revealed.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a meeting on Monday evening expressed relief with the state achieving an 87 percent recovery rate in its battle to combat Covid-19. Speaking at the meeting in Lucknow, Yogi said the state’s recovery rate was three percent more than the national recovery rate of 84 percent.

Agra recorded an 88.37 percent recovery rate on Monday.

The total number of active cases was 570 now. The city reported 59 fresh cases in the last 24 hours. The number of samples collected now exceeds two lakh (2,01,945). Of the total 6,002 cases, the number of discharged patients is 5,304, while the death toll stands at 128, the health department data has revealed.

The health department has now decided to decentralize the sample collection process. Right now there are only two centers collecting samples. This results in crowding and violation of norms.

The administration now plans to open a dozen new sample collection centers and three have already started working. The cooperation of the corporators has been sought to bring people to the centers for sample testing. Doctors claim this would help break the chain of infections further.

Meanwhile, doctors said due to changing weather, there has been a sudden spurt in the number of patients with flu, viral fever, skin issues at the OPDs of the government hospitals.

The strike by the safai karamcharis of the Agra Municipal Corporation ended Monday evening. In the presence of armed cops, the corporation’s trucks and dumpers lifted the garbage that had piled up everywhere due to the strike by the Balmiki Samaj protesting the Hathras tragedy.

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