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|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Messaging is so much more fun when you can converse in a language that is natural to you, a language that allows you to express the real you. As more and more non-English speakers get online, Google is focused on making their experience better, easier and more relevant. Towards that, Google is introducing Hindi language capabilities to the Assistant and Smart Reply in Google Allo. Starting today, these new features will begin rolling out on Google Allo on Android and iOS and they will be available to all users over the coming few days.

Google Assistant is your personal assistant and can get you any kind of information you want, can help you accomplish tasks, chat with friends, play games and do lots more-all in one chat window, without you ever leaving the conversation. So whether you want to pull up a YouTube video of your favorite SRK song or simply want to pass time by with your favourite game, Google Assistant is your constant companion. With today’s launch, the Google Assistant in Allo will now understand and respond in Hindi. Chat one-one-one with your Assistant in Allo, or just type @google to bring your Assistant into any group chat. To start using the Assistant in Hindi, just say ‘Talk to me in Hindi’ or adjust the language setting on your device.

Talking about the launch, Amit Fulay, Group Product Manager, Google said

Since it’s launch, Google Allo has received tremendous response, especially in India, which has one of the highest number of Google Allo users. The Google Assistant, in particular, is one of the most loved features in Google Allo-one in every 12 messages in group chats are messages to the Google Assistant. We are enthused by this and today’s launch enables us to extend these features to the next millions of users in a language of their choice.

Another unique Allo feature is ‘Smart Reply’, which make it easier for users to respond quickly, even when on the go. Powered by Machine Learning, Google Allo not just understands text, but can also help with suggested responses to images sent by friends and family-all in Hindi.

Smart Reply will recognize the language you are chatting in and begin to show suggested responses in that language. If you are chatting in English, it will continue to show English responses. But if you start chatting in Hindi, it will show you suggestions in that language. You can also adjust the language through your device settings. So, now you can respond to your friends question kya haal hai with Sab theek Hai with a single tap.

Google Allo is a smart messaging app available on Android and iOS. Launched in September this year, Google Allo allows you to say more and do more right within your chats including making plans, finding information, and expressing yourself more easily.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

As the year draws to a close, Google announced Google Play’s most globally popular apps, games, music, movies, TV shows and books in 2016, as well as the top trending apps, games, movies and books in India.

The Force and Harry Potter were no match for a different kind of superhero as Deadpool and Deadpool Kills the Universe dominated the movie and book charts this year. Game of Thrones kept The Walking Dead away to once again claim the Iron Throne as the most popular TV show of 2016. Twenty One Pilots had no need to feel “Stressed Out” as their single came in as the number one most streamed song of the year, but don’t feel “Sorry” for Justin Bieber who came in at number two. And, of course, Pokemon Go captured the top trending game spot.

Closer home, BeautyPlus Me-Perfect Camera and Voot TV Shows Movies Cartoons were top trending apps, proving India’s love for selfies, pouts and cinema. The theme continued in the top trending Indian games as well with Salman Khan starrer Sultan’s official game Sultan: The Game coming in as the number two trending game after Train Simulator 2016.

Google Play’s Global Best of 2016 Lists

Top Trending Apps of 2016

  1. Face Changer 2
  2. Lumyer – Photo & Selfie Editor
  3. Castbox – Podcast Radio Music
  4. Emoji Keyboard Pro
  5. MSQRD

Top Trending Games of 2016

  1. Pokémon GO
  2. Clash Royale
  3. Traffic Rider
  4. slither.io
  5. Dream League Soccer

Top 5 Streamed Songs of 2016

  1. Stressed Out, Twenty One Pilots
  2. Sorry, Justin Bieber
  3. One Dance (feat. WizKid & Kyla), Drake
  4. Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya), The Chainsmokers
  5. Me, Myself & I, G-Eazy

TOP 5 MOVIES of 2016

  1.     Deadpool
  2.     Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  3.     Zootopia
  4.     Captain America: Civil War
  5.     Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Top 5 TV Shows of 2016         

  1.  Game of Thrones
  2.  The Walking Dead
  3.  The Big Bang Theory
  4.  Mr. Robot
  5.  The Flash

Top 5 Books of 2016

  1.  Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe by Cullen Bunn
  2.  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne
  3.  The Girl on the Train: A Novel by Paula Hawkins
  4.  The Art of War by Tzu Sun
  5.  Me Before You: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

Google Play’s India Best of 2016 lists

Top Trending Apps of 2016        

  1.  BeautyPlus Me – Perfect Camera
  2.  Voot TV Shows Movies Cartoons
  3.  Google Duo
  4.  Mr Voonik
  5.  Tap Emoji Keyboard

Top Trending games of 2016        

  1. Train Simulator 2016
  2. Sultan: The Game
  3. Traffic Rider
  4. Talking Tom Gold Run
  5. Grand Gangsters 3D

Top 5 Movies of 2016

  1. The Martian
  2. Sultan
  3. The Jungle Book
  4. The Intern
  5. Deadpool

Top 5 Books of 2016

  1. Cometh the Hour by Jeffery Archer
  2. When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
  3. The Trials of Apollo : The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordon
  4. Half Lion by Vinay Sitapati
  5. The Last Mile by David Baldacci

Check out Google Play’s top lists for the most popular content in 2016 below. For complete local lists, visit Google Play.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Yahoo announced the 2016 Year in Review (YIR) for India. The YIR is a look at the year’s top trends, happenings and events, which caught the imagination of Internet users in India. In its ninth year now, this review is based on users’ daily search habits and an editorial selection of what they read, recommended and shared most on Yahoo.

The list of Top Newsmakers, usually ruled by politicians and Bollywood stars, saw the entry of Indian Sportswomen including PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar who won laurels and dominated the headlines during Rio Olympics. Also featuring in the list was wrestler Vinesh Phogat, one of India’s best bets for a medal, who bowed out of the Olympic games at a crucial juncture due to an injury. Other top newsmakers included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arnab Goswami and Indian politicians Arvind Kejriwal, Jayalalithaa and Subramanian Swamy, as well as Rohit Khandelwal the first Indian (and Asian) to win the Mr. World title.

‘The Unnamed Soldier’ became the ‘Personality of the Year’ for being perennially at the forefront of national consciousness. From thwarting a terrorist infiltration into the Pathankot Air Force Station to facing September’s militant attack in Uri that led to a precise and surgical retaliation from India, or being in the midst of the controversy surrounding the One Rank-One Pension scheme – the soldier was in the news all year long.

Prime minister’s demonetisation initiative, Cyrus Mistry’s dramatic exit from Tata Group and Reliance Jio’s 4G network launch were the most significant Financial Events that shook India. In fact, RJio launch made Mukesh Ambani one of the top Business Newsmakers of 2016 as well.

Sunny Leone reigned supreme as the Most Searched Personality for the fifth consecutive year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Most Searched Politician followed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The US presidential election was widely followed in India, with Donald Trump ranking as the fourth most searched politician in the country.

Salman Khan continued to be the ‘Boss’ landing the top spot for the Most Searched Male Celebrity of 2016, while stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma came in at No.2. A surprise entry in the list was Tanmay Bhat, co-founder of AIB for his controversial snapchat video.

The buzz around Bipasha Basu‘s wedding to Karan Singh Grover ensured her position as the second Most Searched Female Celebrity. Deepika Padukone took the third slot followed by Katrina Kaif at No.4.

Our sportswomen also pipped the cricketers in the Most Searched Sportsperson, with PV Sindhu and Dipa Karmakar at number one and two spots. The only cricketers that made the Top 10 were Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

Indians’ all-consuming obsession with cricket continued with ‘IPL 2016’ becoming the Most Searched Newsy term, followed by Rio Olympics and Freedom 251, the mass market phone that was much talked about for its revolutionary pricing but couldn’t sustain prolonged interest.

Kareena Kapoor Khan’s maternity wardrobe was much in vogue, while Ranveer Singh’s quirky outfits won him several accolades, making the duo the Most Stylish Male and Female Bollywood Actors of 2016. Amongst the Top Box Office Disasters, Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan Kapoor’s launch movie ‘Mirzya’ was a major letdown for movie enthusiasts. Ashutosh Gowariker’s highly anticipated period drama ‘Mohenjo Daro’ and Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Fan’ were other big movies to fail miserably at the box office.

Click on the Infographic to Zoom

Autonomous vehicles was the Most Significant Technology Innovation of 2016, with several companies announcing their foray into driver-less cars. If people’s searches are a window into the future, areas we may see growth in moving forward include Virtual Personal Assistants, Virtual and Augmented Reality and Fitness Trackers.

See Year in Review: 2016 for the complete lowdown on 2016’s biggest moments for online India.

Yahoo 2016 Year-In-Review
Yahoo 2016 Year-In-Review

About the Yahoo India 2016 Year in Review Methodology

To develop the Yahoo Year in Review, our editors analyze user’s interest patterns on what they searched for, read, recommended and shared. It takes into account a number of factors including absolute volume and growth from previous periods to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface. Individuals and their preferences always remain anonymous.

|In: Embedded|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Xilinx have launched the Embedded Vision Developer Zone for software, hardware, and system developers to accelerate their productivity and build All Programmable, differentiated Embedded Vision applications. Through the Embedded Vision Developer Zone, Xilinx is providing a one-stop location to jump start the development of next-generation vision systems employing sensor fusion, advanced computer vision algorithms, and real-time object detection and analytics capabilities based on machine learning techniques.

Central to the Embedded Vision Developer Zone is a pool of engineering resources comprised of optimized libraries for software development, vision IP for hardware developers, projects, and tutorials from Xilinx, Alliance Program Members, and community developers. All development resources are compatible with Xilinx FPGAs and All Programmable SoCs, including Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs combining four ARM Cortex–A53 APUs, two ARM Cortex-R5 Real time Processors, an ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU, an HEVC Video Codec supporting 4Kp60 resolution, programmable logic, and programmable interfaces.

Jeff Bier, founder of the Embedded Vision Alliance said

Product developers are embracing embedded vision at an accelerating pace. From smart surveillance cameras to autonomous vehicles, just about everything needs to see something. Squeezing vision into tight cost and power budgets presents unique challenges to embedded vision developers. Providing them with a dedicated place to find a wide range of resources relevant to their applications is an important step in enabling more developers to meet these challenges.

For additional information, please visit the Embedded Vision Developer Zone by visiting the or watch this short video.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the leading provider of All Programmable FPGAs, SoCs, MPSoCs, and 3D ICs. Xilinx uniquely enables applications that are both software defined and hardware optimized powering industry advancements in Cloud Computing, 5G Wireless, Embedded Vision and Industrial IoT. For more information, visit Xilinx

|In: Food-Commerce|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

After a successful relaunch of Burrp in October 2015, Burrp is now back with the iconic Burrp! Certificates. Spread across 55 categories and 7 cities, Burrp aims to felicitate the top 300 deserving restaurants in every city through an online voting platform. This comeback will celebrate innovation and creativity in the hospitality sector across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad & Chennai

Pradeep Prabhu, Co-Business Head, Burrp! said

Burrp! introduced the concept of recognizing praiseworthy restaurants in this space through Burrp! Certificates in 2009. As we celebrate a decade in the industry this year, we wanted to share our happiness with our users & restaurant partners.

The food scene has been evolving incredibly over the last few years and our users have so much more choices to look forward today. With the reintroduction of the coveted Burrp Certificates, we intend to make it easy for our users to discover great places and mouthwatering food. Burrp certificates are quintessentially for the foodie as we emphasize more on delectable food over other criteria’s

The user voting platform for Burrp! Certificates includes the following categories which are then divided into sub-categories:

Best Restaurant in the particular city-The category comprises of different types of restaurants in the specific city
Best Cuisine-The category includes different cuisines served in the restaurants and recognizing the best of them
Best Dish-Every restaurant has their unique way of preparing the dish and Burrp! would like to recognize the best

Burrp has constituted a jury that comprises of renowned bloggers and influencers in every city who will bring their expertise to the team in identifying the best amongst the best. Users can begin voting on Burrp website and mobile app from 28th November 2016. The voting options is open until 31st December 2016. Final winners will be decided by Users & Jury. For the users who are voting, there will be 3 daily lucky winners.

About Burrp!

Burrp! is the pioneer in the Indian food and restaurant discovery space and quite literally introduced consumer technology in the food and beverage industry. Burrp! is India’s first food and restaurant recommendation engine and has been making eating out more convenient since 2006. With the new look and app, the new team hopes to answer one single question that keeps cropping up in users’ heads all the timeWhat should I eat and where? Burrp! has listed over 65,000+ partners and since the launch of the new look in October, Burrp! has garnered over 5,50,000 mobile app downloads. For more information, please visit Burrp!

 

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

mVisa, a Quick Response (QR) code-based mobile solution by Visa, will now support payments to over 1,000 TABCab taxis powered by Ongo.  The announcement marks the expansion of mVisa to a new category (taxi) after success with merchants like TataSky, Idea, Pizza Hut and others.

Using mVisa, customers will be able to pay their fare through their respective bank’s mobile banking app by scanning the driver’s QR code displayed as a badge or a sticker in the taxi. The driver will receive a payment notification either through an SMS or on the Ongo app (for smartphone users). The service is currently available on the following apps-Axis Bank Mobile Banking App, Bank of Baroda M CLIP App, Bank of India mVisa App, HDFC Bank PayZapp, Pockets by ICICI Bank, State Bank Anywhere App and Udio Payments App.

Image Source – OnGo

Consumers can also be eligible for an attractive promotional offer. For every mVisa transaction, the consumer gets 50% cashback (up to Rs 200). This offer is valid till 31st Dec 2016.

Powered by India Transact Services Limited. (ITSL), a fully owned subsidiary of AGS Transact Technologies Limited, the Ongo app was launched in September 2015 to enable mobile based P2M (Person to Merchant) transactions for auto-rickshaws and taxis in Mumbai. With the introduction of mVisa, Ongo enabled taxi drivers will now be able to receive cashless payments.

T.R. Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said

With the exponential growth in internet and mobile penetration in India, mobile based payment solutions are rapidly picking up. We are excited by the increasing acceptance for mVisa and believe QR codes as a payment method will play a crucial role in development of digital payments as they are supported by the full range of smartphones, including low cost models. mVisa presents an opportunity to electronify everyday spends, and public transport is an important category that we are solving for.

Ravi B Goyal, Chairman & Managing Director, AGS Transact Technologies Limited, added

In line with Ongo’s vision to create and deliver an alternate transactions ecosystem, we are consistently working towards developing mobility-based payment solutions that encourage alternative transactions ecosystem. Our partnership with Visa will help us further fuel the company’s vision where paying or getting paid digitally becomes the first choice for consumers and merchants.

Visa, the global leader in payments technology and payment solution provider AGSTTL-ITSL, aim to maximize the integration of mobile based payments to Mumbai’s local transportation as well as small merchants, working closely with government authorities, trade and merchant bodies and partners.

mVisa is a payment service that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make cashless purchases. Users securely link their Visa debit, credit or prepaid account to the mVisa application and make purchases by scanning an mVisa Quick Response (QR) code at a retailer and initiating a transfer of funds from their card to the retailer’s account. mVisa eliminates the need to carry cash by providing customers a more convenient and secure way to pay.

About India Transact Services Limited

India Transact Services Ltd. (ITSL), a fully owned subsidiary of AGS Transact Technologies Ltd., is an Omni-channel merchant payment solutions company providing cutting-edge technology and innovative payment solutions. ITSL aims to consistently simplify the process of Transacting, Merchant Acquisition and Value Added Services.

ITSL offers a host of products and services including payment processing platform for routing commercial and retail payments between buyers and sellers across the country. Through its brand ‘Ongo’, ITSL is focused to create an alternate payments ecosystem offering Mobile wallet, Payment Gateway, Domestic Money Transfer (DMT), Point of Sale (PoS) and more. Since its launch in September 2015, Ongo Wallet has seen over 3 lakh successful downloads and boasts of more than 30,000 registered auto-rickshaws & taxis and over 1000 merchants in Mumbai alone. For more information, please visit India Transact Services Ltd. (ITSL)

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Sulekha is the leader in the 200 billion dollar services market in India. They connect users with local service providers both online and on their mobile platform. Sulekha has adopted Exotel’s User Virtual Number (UVN) technology to safeguard their customers’ privacy and to bring better experience to their customers.

One of the biggest problems their customers faced was persistent calls from certain service partners, even after their requirement was fulfilled. The deployment of Exotel’s unique technology enabled them to mask the user’s real phone and communicate using a dynamic virtual number. This way, even if a service provider tries to reach the user after the user has requested Sulekha to stop calls, the Service partner will get a ‘regret’ message which ultimately protects customer privacy.

User Virtual Number (UVN) technology also prevents the service partner from storing and circulating the customer’s contact number.

In addition to safeguarding customer privacy, UVN allows Sulekha to track advanced analytics about connect rates, response rates and talk-time to understand if the customer’s service request is fulfilled or not.

Speaking about the development, Satya Prabhakar, Founder and CEO, Sulekha said

Exotel’s Virtual Number (UVN) technology helped us to assign dynamic virtual phone numbers for all user-service partner combinations. We can now keep a track of the connect rates and response rates between service partners and the user and ensure a better experience to both the parties.

Shivku, Co-founder and CEO, Exotel said

One of the biggest problems that Sulekha faced was the lack of control on the conversations that happened between the user and the service partner over the phone. Exotel’s User virtual number (UVN) technology gives them more control and helps them understand the customer’s experience better.

|In: Conferences|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Carnegie India, a public policy think tank is organizing its first Global Technology Summit in India on the 6th and 7th of December in Bengaluru. The summit is supported by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs apart from a host of Indian and foreign technology companies.

The two-day summit will see industry leaders, entrepreneurs, technologists, academics and policy makers from across the world getting together to discuss global technology trends, their impact on job creation, and finding the right balance between promoting innovation and effective regulation.

Speaking about the summit, Dr C Raja Mohan, Director of Carnegie India said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an instinctive sense for the unfolding technological transformation. But to turn his multiple initiatives-from demonetization to digital India-into effective national strategy, he needs a more intensive and sustained conversation with technology hubs like Bengaluru that are generating new possibilities for India’s transformation. Carnegie India’s Global Technology Summit is a step in that direction which will help to diffuse knowledge and develop new ideas by facilitating meaningful conversation between innovators, academia, regulatory bodies and governments.

Shivnath Thukral, MD, Carnegie India said

Carnegie India visualizes the Summit as an initial effort to kick start its technology and policy initiative – one that explores perspectives from various stakeholders and provides research guidance on technology and regulation.  We also aim to build conversation around the revolutionary impact of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, internet-of-things, block-chain, and other evolving technologies, so that governments and policy makers can plan ahead rather than play catch up. It is critical for the government to structure policies that will accelerate the pace of economic development through technological adoption. The Global Technology Summit is a first step in this direction.

The Summit will see technologists and technology regulators from all around the globe, including Bibop Gresta of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Ruslan Yunusov of the Russian Quantum Centre, Mark Skidmore who spearheaded drone regulations during his stint at the Australian Civil Aviation Authority, and Sopnendu Mohanty who drives fintech regulation in Singapore’s Monetary Authority. Providing perspective on India’s tryst with technology will be RS Sharma, TRAI Chairperson; S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary; KT Rama Rao, IT Minister, State of Telangana; RV Deshpande, Minister for Industries, State of Karnataka; and Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog. The Minister of Science & Technology of Israel Mr. Ofir Akunis will be giving a special address while industry partners such as Intel, Ola, Volvo, Flipkart, Target and Dell EMC will share their perspectives through some of their senior leadership.

About Carnegie India

Carnegie India is a public policy think tank organization which was launched in April of 2016. It is the sixth international center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC. The center’s research and programmatic focus includes the political & economic reforms in India, public policy, foreign and security policy, and the role of innovation and technology in India’s internal transformation and international relations.

Carnegie India aims to work with various stakeholders in the private and public sector and undertake research to come up with new policy ideas and recommendations. The aim is to add to the pool of research and thinking in order to aid better policy decisions aligned to make India a compelling force in the world economic and political sphere. For more information, please visit Carnegie India