P V Sindhu to face Saina Nehwal in India Open quarterfinals

This will be 2nd time that they will compete at international level after 2014 Syed Modi Grand Prix

Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu and ace badminton shuttler Saina Nehwal are all set to face each other in the quarter-final clash of the India Open World Super Series here at the Siri Fort Sports Complex later on Friday.

Sindhu booked her place in the last eight of the tournament after brushing aside Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-16, 23-21 in a thrilling second round clash that lasted 40 minutes.

Sixth-seed Saina, on the other hand, took just half an hour to outplay 19-year-old Pompawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-14, 21-11 to storm into the quarter-finals.

This will be the second time that Saina and Sindhu would face each other at the international level. The duo last met during the final of the 2014 Syed Modi Grand Prix, where the London Olympics bronze-medallist prevailed in straight games.

In the men's singles event, Sameer Verma continued his good run of form as he registered a comfortable 21-17, 21-15 win over Yu Hu of Hong Kong to reach quarter-finals.

Also Read : Saina, Sindhu & Sameer reach quarterfinals at India Open

Samsung launches Galaxy S8; looks to recover from Note 7 fiasco

Two versions of Galaxy S8 launched; year ahead to be crucial with Apple's new iPhone coming in

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone as it battles to regain the market leadership it lost to Apple Inc after the embarrassing withdrawal of the fire-prone Note 7s.

Boasting some of the largest wrap-around screens ever made, the long-awaited S8 is the South Korean technology company's first new premium phone since its September recall of all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones equipped with fire-prone batteries. Samsung halted their sales in 10 markets, and the phones were banned from aircraft in the United States, denting a revival of the firm's mobile business.

Two versions of the Galaxy S8, code-named Dream internally, were launched at a media event in New York on Wednesday, with 6.2-inch (15.75 cm) and 5.8-inch curved screens - the largest to date for Samsung's premium smartphones. They will go on sale on April 21.

"We must be bold enough to step into the unknown and humble enough to learn from our mistakes," D J Koh, the company's mobile chief, said at the event after acknowledging that it had been a challenging year for Samsung.

US carriers T-Mobile US Inc and Verizon Communications Inc announced retail pricing for the smaller S8 around $700. The larger phone will sell for $840 at Verizon and $850 at T-Mobile. Read more

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Virtual boost: Baahubali-2 may change the way sports is watched at homes

Radeon Technologies is now trying to extend VR technology to live-streaming of sports like cricket

Soon, the experience of watching sports sitting in your living room would get a virtual boost.

Radeon Technologies Group, a part of chip maker AMD, is out to change the way people watch sports at home.

Using a virtual reality (VR) headset, the company wants to give a 360-degree view of a sporting arena to a viewer. The living room would suddenly be in the middle of a stadium. A viewer with a VR headset would get a glimpse of every inch of the stadium by moving his head towards the direction he wants to see.

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“We are talking to people in the sporting world for live streaming of matches on our VR platform,” Raja Koduri, senior vice-president of Radeon Technologies Group, who heads the graphics processor development initiative of AMD, told Business Standard. “We hope to make some announcements in this regard in the second half of this year.”

Radeon perfected the technology for live streaming during its collaboration in the making of Baahubali 2, said Koduri.

“The tools that were used in the making of Baahubali 2 were 10 times better than what were used to make the first Baahubali. Part 2 contains two trillion pixels of graphics. There was not a single frame without VR content.” Read more

Deepika Padukone - actress with the highest, most coveted brands

With one more brand added in Deepika Padukone 's kitty, the dimpled beauty sustains her position of having the highest number of brands and the most coveted ones.

The Mastani of Bollywood has recently been announced as the face of a mobile manufacturing giant and is now the brand ambassador of as many as 18 quality brands across various segments.

The 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' star, who has left no stone unturned in making herself a global icon, is a hot name in the brands circuit because of her massive popularity.

On the professional front, the 31-year-old is currently gearing up for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum-opus 'Padmavati' that also stars Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles.

Deepika Padukone in a fashion designer Sabyasachi Saree

Deepika Padukone attended an awards ceremony sporting a Sabyasachi sari capturing grace and spring into one.

The actress chose a vivacious hand-painted Khadi sari from the designer's Udaipur collection.

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Panasonic launches AI-based Eluga Ray Max, Eluga Ray X in India

The smartphones are exclusively available on Flipkart

Technology News : Aiming to give users a simplified and an enhanced user experience, Panasonic India on Monday launched two new smartphones -- Eluga Ray Max and Eluga Ray X -- that are equipped with "Arbo" -- the company's in-house developed artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual assistant.

The smartphones are exclusively available on Flipkart. While Eluga Ray Max is priced at Rs 11,499 for 32GB variant and Rs 12,499 for 64GB variant, Eluga Ray X is available for Rs 8,999.

"With the launch of our first AI-enabled smartphones, we are now expanding our product offerings which will help empower our consumer base and assist them in performing tasks in a smarter way," Manish Sharma, President and CEO, Panasonic India and South Asia, and Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation, told reporters here.

The virtual assistant is a self-learning technology that understands the user behaviour and then maps their daily activities for them accordingly.

"AI has been dubbed as the technology which in future will shape the product interface and the way we interact with our smartphones, with this pilot advancement we hope that this will not only enhance our market share but will also further strengthen our position within the industry," Sharma added. (more)

Apple to start making iPhone 6 and 6S models in India over next two months

Contract manufacturer Wistron will manufacture iPhones at its Bangalore plants

Apple Inc. will soon start assembling iPhones in India for the first time, say government officials familiar with its plans, boosting the company's chances of gaining a foothold in the fast-growing market.

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp. will likely start making iPhone 6 and 6S models here in the next four-to-six weeks at its plant in Bangalore, said an official of the southern state of Karnataka where the tech hub is located. It will add Apple's cheapest iPhone model, the SE, to its assembly line in about three months, the official said.

"Almost all preparations have been done for launching Apple's first phase project in Bangalore through Wistron," the official told The Wall Street Journal.

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"We've been working hard to develop our operations in India," an Apple spokeswoman said. "We appreciate the constructive and open dialogue we've had with government about further expanding our local operations." A Wistron spokeswoman said the company doesn't comment on "rumor or speculation."

With sales cooling in China, long an engine for Apple's growth, manufacturing iPhones locally would help Apple address what analysts say is its biggest problem in India: its smartphones are simply too expensive for the vast majority of people.

Smartphone shipments in India grew 18% last year, compared with 3% globally, according to Counterpoint Research, but the majority of phones sold here cost less than $150.

The iPhone SE, which some online retailers now sell for as low as $330, is still out of reach of most Indian consumers. Read more

Who was Khalid Masood, the man identified as the UK Parliament attacker

While Masood had a prior criminal record, his neighbours described him as an average Joe

Police have identified the attacker behind Wednesday's terrorist attack outside Britain's Parliament as British-born 52-year-old Khalid Masood. (Read more)

Masood's attack left five people dead, including himself, and 40 others injured after he mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer outside the Parliament complex in London's Westminster before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers.

A 'nice guy' with a wife and kids

According to The Independent, Masood's birth name was Adrian Elms. The report said that he converted to Islam while serving a prison sentence.

According to the online newspaper, Masood's former neighbours described him as a "nice guy" who had a "normal family". Further, the report said Masood was a bodybuilding enthusiast and is survived by a wife and three young children.

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Masood, the report said, was residing in the Winson Green neighbourhood, in the city of Birmingham, with his family.

Speaking to the online paper, Masood's neighbour Ciaran Molloy said, “He washed his car, mowed his lawn... He was quite friendly, polite in every interaction." Molloy added, “It’s a shock to know he did what he did. It’s a shock to know he lived across the road.”

According to Molloy, Masood would often be spotted wearing “gym clothes" or "a tracksuit". Sometimes, Molloy said, Masood would be seen wearing "Muslim dress".

Molloy also told the paper that Masood had "two girls, about seven or eight, who you’d see wearing school uniform, and a son of about three".

Known criminal

However, reports and officials statements which emerged after Wednesday's attack reveal another side to Masood's life, one where he had a known and long criminal record. (Read more)