San Francisco, Microsoft is redesigning Skype’s interface for both mobile and desktop, eliminating the less used features on the app and simplyfying its core functions like voice calling, video chatting and messaging.

“This past year, we explored some design changes and heard from customers that we overcomplicated some of our core scenarios,” Peter Skillman, Director of design for Skype and Outlook wrote in a blog post.

The redesign concentrates on decluttering the mobile app interface and shifting chats, calls, contacts and notifications options to the top left of the window, providing a central navigation point for desktop users.

Microsoft is also removing the “Highlights” feature which was added to Skype last year and was inspired by photo-messaging app Snapchat. It allowed users to post a thread of photos and videos for friends to view and react to with emoticons.

“Calling became harder to execute and ‘Highlights’ didn’t resonate with a majority of users. We needed to take a step back and simplify,” wrote Skillman.

The video-and-voice platform would now also come with light and dark theme options to choose from.

“We toned down the visual range of the gradients and re-introduced a simplified Skype ‘Classic’ blue theme-adjusted for contrast and readability,” Skillman added.

More updates, focussing around calling, chats and contacts would be rolling out in the months to come, the post noted.

Microsoft has also reportedly rolled out end-to-end encryption for private conversations on Skype that would ensure that the chat content between two people is hidden in both, the chat list and the notifications.

[IANS]

San Francisco Despite Chairman and CEO Elon Musk claiming that Tesla will ramp up production of its Model 3 car to 6,000 units per week, the electric carmaker has reportedly missed the goal and made only 4,300 units in the last week of August.

“Tesla is on track for a production record this quarter but slightly behind its ambitious Model 3 goal,” the ELetrek reported late on Sunday.

Model 3 comes with a base price tag of $35,000.

“Based on the same reliable source familiar with Tesla’s production, the automaker built about 6,400 vehicles during the last week (last seven days) of August (from 24th to 31st midday) including about 4,300 Model 3 vehicles,” the report claimed.

Earlier in August, buoyed by the increased production of Model 3 cars, Tesla reported a revenue of $4 billion in the second quarter of 2018, with $2.2 billion in cash in hand.

“We are proud of our team for producing roughly 7,000 Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles during the last week of June.

“A total vehicle output of 7,000 vehicles per week, or 350,000 per year, should enable Tesla to become sustainably profitable for the first time in our history, and we expect to grow our production rate further in Q3,” Elon Musk, CEO Tesla, said in a statement.

In July 2018, Model 3 not only had the top market share position in its segment in the US, but it also outsold all other mid-sized premium sedans combined — accounting for 52 per cent of the segment overall.

“Having achieved our 5,000 per week milestone, we will now continue to increase that further, with our aim to produce 6,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by late August.

“We aim to increase production to 10,000 Model 3s per week as fast as we can. We believe that the majority of Tesla’s production lines will be ready to produce at this rate by the end of 2018,” Musk said.

[IANS]

Budget airline GoAir on Sunday said one of its Bengaluru-Pune flights had suffered a technical glitch mid-air and it returned safely to Bengaluru as is the standard operating procedure in such cases.

An airline spokesperson said there were around 169 passengers on board on Saturday’s disrupted flight, who have now been all accommodated on alternate flights.

“Flight G8-283 BLR-PNQ suffered a technical glitch. As a standard operating procedure the captain returned back to Bengaluru. Post landing, all passengers were cared for and accommodated on alternate flights,” a Go Air statement said.

“GoAir sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers. GoAir is committed to the highest degree of safety of passengers and its own crew members and the crew operated within the established guidelines to provide for safe travel,” it added.

The airline spokesperson said that the flight in question was an Airbus A320 neo plane fitted with Pratt and Whitney (P&W) engines.

Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has grounded several A320 neo planes with P&W engines that were being operated by low-cost carriers IndiGo and GoAir.

(IANS)

New Delhi Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India on Saturday reported a 3.4 per cent dip in sales in August as the car maker sold a total of 158,189 units in the month, compared to 163,701 units sold in the year-ago month.

“Sales during the month were adversely affected due to severe floods in Kerala and heavy rains in other parts of the country,” it said.

In the domestic market, it sold 147,700 units during August, down by 2.8 per cent from 152,000 units sold in the corresponding month in 2017.

The carmaker exported 10,489 units registering a 10.4 per cent drop from 11,701 units shipped out in the year-ago month.

It sold 114,261 units of passenger cars in the August 2018, falling by 1.4 per cent from 115,897 units sold in the corresponding month 2017.

Sales of its utility vehicles dropped by 16.2 per cent to 17,971 units in August, while vans sales were at 13,663 units, decrease by 1.9 per cent over corresponding month 2017.

However, during the first five months of the current fiscal, it posted a 12.4 per cent growth in sales to 813,037 units as compared to 723,618 units sold in the corresponding period of 2017-18.

[IANS]

Reliance Foundation (RF) on Thursday said it had handed over a cheque of Rs 21 crore to the Kerala Chief Ministers Felief Fund and the company has distributed relief material worth Rs 50 crore for the flood-affected people of the state.

In a statement here, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries said the cheque was handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by RF Chairperson Nita Ambani, who is personally spearheading rescue and relief operations in the flood-ravaged state.

Noting how people had come together in an unprecedented manner to help rebuild the devastated state in an interaction with journalists here, Ambani said the Reliance Foundation is trying to help in whatever way it can.

“Today, we are handing over a cheque of Rs 21 crore to the chief minister’s relief fund and we are distributing relief material worth Rs 50 crore, including clothes, dry groceries, medicines, shoes and study material,” she said.

RF had announced the Kerala relief package on August 21.

Since August 14, RF teams are engaged in relief efforts in Ernakulam, Wayanad, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts.

High global crude oil prices, along with continuous outflow of foreign funds pulled the Indian rupee to a fresh intra-day and closing low on Thursday.

Analysts pointed out that caution ahead of key macro-economic data, coupled with a rise in demand for US dollars also dragged the rupee lower.

“High crude oil prices have pulled the rupee lower,” Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers’ Research Analyst Rushabh Maru told IANS.

“Most emerging market (EM) currencies were down and this also pressurised the Indian rupee.”

On an intra-day basis, the Indian rupee plunged to 70.85 — the lowest ever mark — against the greenback at the Interbank foreign exchange market. It surpassed the previous record low of 70.65-66 to a greenback made on Wednesday.

It settled at a record closing low of 70.74-75 against the US dollar, weaker 15 by paise from Wednesday’s close of 70.59-60 to a US dollar.

According to Tradebulls’ Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dhruv Desai: “Currently sensitivity of Indian rupee to crude oil prices is very high.”

“In spite of weakening US Dollar since last week, Indian rupee struggled to gain against US dollar as market is pricing in higher current account deficit due to rise in crude prices.”

Apart from high crude oil, outflow of foreign funds from the Indian equity and bond markets has had an adverse impact on the rupee.

Investment-wise, data from the NSDL on Thursday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold scrip worth Rs 1,379.34 crore.

Besides, caution prevailed ahead of the release of India’s GDP and fiscal deficit data. The key macro-economic data points will be released on Friday.

“Rupee needs more support from RBI or some big global positive news. The trend remains weak until some sizeable intervention by RBI verbal or actual. There is a lot of panic buying amongst importers and equity investors as well who want to hedge the currency risk now,” said Sajal Gupta, Head Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.

“Our macros remain robust but panic is the key factor behind current volatility. Everyone is a buyer of dollars in current market.”

The RBI is known to enter the markets via intermediaries to either sell or buy US dollars to keep the rupee in a stable orbit.

India will be hosting the 6th edition of Bengaluru Space Expo in this tech capital from September 6 to 8, a top official said on Wednesday.

“The space expo on September 6-8 brings the industry and space agencies from various countries on one platform allowing to explore business opportunities,” said S. Rakesh, the Managing Director of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

At a time when the global space industry is growing with increasing number of private players, it is important for the industry to understand the scope of business in the sector, Rakesh told reporters here.

The biennial space expo, which was started in 2008, is held jointly by the ISRO, Antrix and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The three-day conference over space technologies with the theme “Creating dynamism in Indian space ecosystem” is expected to have about 100 exhibitors, 50 speakers and 600 delegates from various countries including France, Russia and the Middle East region, among others.

“Representatives and heads of space agencies from France, Russia and Taiwan will also take part in the event,” CII vice-president Vikram Kirloskar added.

The expo allows the industry to explore the technologies behind satellite production, design and development of launch vehicles.

With Indian space agency aiming for two launches a month ahead, there is a need for the industry to play a larger role in understanding the business, stressed Rakesh.

The platform will feature panel discussions by the industry and space experts on Indian space ecosystem, launch vehicles — opportunities for industry, space transportation and space infrastructure.

The expo will also have a dedicated zone for India’s proposed maiden manned space mission Gaganyaan, ISRO chairman K. Sivan said.

Of the $330 billion worth global space market, India’s share is only about one per cent, which it aims to increase by stepping up its number of launches, Rakesh added.

(PTI)

Bengaluru, Cybercriminals are moving away from attention-grabbing ransomware attacks to more covert methods intended to steal money and valuable computing resources globally including in India, cyber security leader Trend Micro said on Thursday.

Crypto-jacking — where a hacker steals cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin from digital wallets — attempts are making the biggest impact so far this year, said the report titled “Midyear Security Roundup 2018.”

Trend Micro recorded a 96 per cent increase in cryptocurrency mining detections in the first half of 2018 compared to all of 2017, and a massive 956 per cent increase in detections versus the first half of 2017.

This indicates that cybercriminals are shifting away from the quick payout of ransomware in favour of the slower, behind-the-scenes approach of stealing computing power to mine digital currency.

“In the wake of several breaches over the last few years, the country is reeling under the spate of attacks that have compromised databases belonging to banking institutions, government email servers, and Indian enterprises at large,” said Nilesh Jain, Vice President-South East Asia and India, Trend Micro.

“We have also seen few Public Cloud providers getting compromised this year. Next year, the customers who don’t take adequate measures to their applications or data which are hosted in Public Cloud, might even get compromised,” he added.

Another shift in the first half of the year is toward unusual malware types, such as fileless, macro and small file malware.

Trend Micro recorded a 250 per cent increase in detections of one particular small file malware “TinyPOS” compared to the second half of 2017.

“The recent change in the threat landscape mirrors what we’ve seen for years that cybercriminals will constantly shift their tools, tactics and procedures (TTPs) to improve their infection rates,” said Jon Clay, Director of Global Threat Communications for Trend Micro.

[IANS]

All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country would be linked to the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) system by December 31, 2018, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday.

The India Post Payments Bank is scheduled to be launched nation-wide on September 1.

“On the day of the launch, IPPB would have 650 branches and 3,250 access points spread across the country,” the minister told reporters.

By the end of 2018, the number of access points would increase to 1.55 lakh, of which 1.30 lakh branches would be in rural areas, Sinha said.

Further, account holders of the Post Office Savings Bank would also be able to avail IPPB services by linking their accounts, he added.

The account holders in the payments bank would be provided a QR card and they can authorise transactions with the card and their biometrics, he added.

Meanwhile, the Union cabinet on Wednesday approved for revision of the project outlay for setting up of the payments bank from Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,435 crore.

The additional sum of Rs 635 crore is on account of Rs 400 crore for technology costs and Rs 235 crore for human resource costs, according to an official statement.

The bank would provide services such as current account, savings account, remittances, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, enterprise and merchant payment, the minister informed, adding that the services would be available through multiple channels including counter services, micro ATM, mobile banking applications, SMS and IVR (Interactive Voice Response).

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday served a notice on the Maharashtra government demanding a report on the arrests of five civil rights activists in a nationwide swoop by the Pune police on Tuesday.

It said the arrests were made in violation of the laid-down procedure and so “amounted to human rights violation”. It asked for a factual report in the matter within four weeks.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC said “it appears, the standard operating procedure in connection with these arrests has not been properly followed by the police authorities, which may amount to the violation of their human rights.”

The notice was issued to the Chief Secretary and Maharashtra Director General of Police Datta Padsalgikar.

To prove its point, the Commission referred to the reports in which the Delhi High Court stayed the transit remand for civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, observing that police have not been able to satisfactorily explain the offence he had been arrested for.

Citing another instance, the commission reiterated reports on lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj’s case for a transit remand was pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Faridabad.

“The activist has told the court that she had nothing to do with the incident for which she has been arrested. According to her, the FIR did not even name her and she is being harassed and arrested only because of her ideology,” the NHRC said in a statement.

“In the case of activist Gautam Navlakha, reportedly, the court has questioned how Pune police managed to get a transit remand from a Delhi court without any witness. The court has also directed translation of the police documents into English which are in vernacular language,” it added.

It also pointed out that earlier it had received a complaint from a Geneva-based NGO pertaining to the illegal arrests of five rights activists in June, some of whom were also raided in April.

Following those arrests, the NHRC had issued a similar notice to the state government on June 29, but the latter did not submit any report.

Tuesday’s arrest of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, civil liberties activists Gautam Navlakha, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Fereira and poet-activist Varavara Rao from different parts of India triggered a massive outcry.

As in June, these arrests were made in connection with the ongoing investigations into the January 1 caste riots in Koregaon-Bhima in the Pune district and a subsequent complaint lodged in the matter.

Besides, police raided another eight activists across the country, including Kranti L.C., Fr. Stan Swami, and Anand Teltumbde, in the major operation as part of the ongoing probe into the involvement of Maoist supporters into the Koregaon-Bhima riots.

Officials described Tuesday’s operations as a ‘follow-up’ to similar action taken in April-June when the Pune police swooped on over half a dozen Dalit activists and those involved with the Kabir Kala Manch, which organised an Elgar Conference in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The next day, on January 1, caste riots erupted in Koregaon-Bhima which left one person dead, culminating in a Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 called by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, headed by Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.