Mi Mix Alpha Concept Phone Delayed, Release Date Remains Unknown: Report

https://ift.tt/2iKcJpn has reportedly pushed back the release of its Mi Mix Alpha concept phone and currently has no concrete plans regarding its market arrival.

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Samsung Galaxy M21 Tipped to Come With Up to 128GB Storage, Three Colour Options

https://ift.tt/154AwVo Galaxy M21 is reported to come with model number SM-M215F. The upcoming phone will reportedly come with 64GB and 128GB storage options – a considerable increase from the 32GB and 64GB options given for the Galaxy M20.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite Live Images Surface Online, Show Familiar Hole-Punch Design and Triple Rear Cameras

https://ift.tt/2jPViHk live images of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite have reportedly been leaked, revealing a familiar design with triple rear cameras and a hole-punch.

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New Year 2020: Our Gadgets Wishlist, From iPhone 9 to Mi TV 4X

https://ift.tt/2iVP4oo 9, Mi TV 4X, MacBook Air 2020, Apple Watch Series 5, Kindle Paperwhite, AirPods Pro, PS5, Xbox Series X, Samsung Galaxy Buds, Pixel 4a, and... Nike Air Jordan 1? These are the gadgets (and shoes) on our mind as we kick off the new year, 2020.

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5G in 2020: Everything You Need to Know

https://ift.tt/2mWi7LJ 4G or any previous generation wireless technologies, 5G rollout is aimed to help enhance connectivity, not only through faster data access on mobile devices, but also by enabling new experiences that would come from connected devices.

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Huawei Mobile Services 4.0 Beta Brings Huawei Offering Closer to Google Services: Report

https://ift.tt/2kQgYmh Mobile Services (HMS) 4.0 beta version that was unveiled last week at the Huawei Developer Groups (HDG) event is attempting to position itself as the alternative to Google's Mobile Services.

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Huawei P40 Pro May Feature a Total of Seven Cameras

https://ift.tt/2CFsR3U upcoming smartphones P40, P40 Pro are expected to launch in March 2020 and now a recent leak has hinted that the P40 Pro may arrive with total seven cameras, five at the rear and two at the front.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite Purported Manual Tips Hole-Punch Display, Triple Rear Camera Setup

https://ift.tt/154AwVo Galaxy S10 Lite user manual has leaked online, and the document hints at the design details of the phone from the front and back.

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Xiaomi Mi 10 Rumoured to Feature Huge Battery Upgrade Over Its Predecessor

https://ift.tt/2rpXWn6 10 will reportedly bring a huge battery upgrade over its predecessor, both in terms of capacity and charging speed.

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Oppo A5 2020 6GB RAM Variant Launched in India: Price, Specifications

https://ift.tt/2kYs8lM has launched a new variant of the Oppo A5 2020 phone in India that packs 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

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Best-Selling Smartphones, Wearables, TVs, Laptops, and More on Flipkart in 2019

https://ift.tt/2rx1t6M had an amazing 2019. We take a look at some of the best-selling tech products including mobile phones, laptops, TVs, and more during this year. We also take a look at some of the key trends from emerging cities.

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CES 2020: Samsung, LG to Show Off Latest Artificial Intelligence Tech, Displays Next Month

https://ift.tt/2hI5BLz 2020: Samsung and LG are ready to boast their latest technologies in the field of artificial intelligence and displays at the upcoming US consumer electronics show, industry watchers said on Sunday.

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Vivo to Stop Launching Online-Exclusive Phones in India Next Year

https://ift.tt/2zvZJhE has assured that it will put an end to online exclusive launches in India as part of its 2020 strategy.

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Huawei Mate Xs Receives 3C Certification Ahead of MWC 2020 Launch, 65W Fast Charging Support Tipped: Report

http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.pngHuawei’s upcoming foldable phone, the Huawei Mate Xs, has reportedly been certified by 3C in China ahead of its MWC 2020 debut.

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Realme’s Fast Charging Technology May Be Called Dart, SuperDart

https://ift.tt/2NZCRuZ has reportedly trademarked Dart and SuperDart names for its fast charging technology. While Realme now recognises itself as an independent company, it still uses Oppo’s ColorOS 7 and VOOC fast charging technology.

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Google Pixel 4a Leaked Renders Tip Hole-Punch Display, Single Main Camera: All You Need to Know

https://ift.tt/1yhd1WC Pixel 4a is expected to launch in 2020, and in the run up to its launch, the alleged renders of the phone have popped up online.

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Samsung to Release 'Clamshell Foldable Phone Before Galaxy S11 Series: Report

https://ift.tt/154AwVo is likely to release a new foldable smartphone that folds like a clam in February before the upcoming release of its flagship Galaxy S11 next year.

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Vivo S1 Pro India Launch Date, Oppo Reno 3 Series, Samsung A30s Price Cut, and More Tech News This Week

https://ift.tt/2zvZJhE S1 Pro launch date reveal, Oppo Reno 3 series launch, the news of Redmi Note 8 duo going on open sale in India were the biggest tech stories in a week that was pretty light on the news.

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These are officially the worst passwords of 2019

SplashData has released its annual list of the most commonly-used passwords across the world, uncovering that old security habits really do die hard.

The security firm investigated over five million leaked passwords over the past twelve months, and found that many of the most common logins would be easy to guess for even the most incompetent hackers.

In perhaps the most surprising news, "password" has for the first time been knocked out of the top two spots, being replaced by the painfully simple "123456" and "123456789".

• The best password manager 2020: store all your logins securely
• Facebook data breach sees millions of user personal details leaked online
• Apple wants to make iPhones safer than ever

Complex

SplashData estimates almost 10 percent of people have used at least one of the 25 worst passwords on this year’s list, with nearly three percent using "123456".

The company noted that while many computer programs now prevent such simple passwords from being created in the first place, older applications and some websites lack this ability, allowing for some dangerously weak passwords. 

Among this year's new entries were “1q2w3e4r” and “qwertyuiop” - simple patterns using contiguous keys on the keyboard - however SplashData says that using such letter/number combinations will still be easy to crack.

“Our hope by publishing this list each year is to convince people to take steps to protect themselves online, and we think these and other efforts are finally starting to pay off,” says Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData.

“We can tell that over the years people have begun moving toward more complex passwords, though they are still not going far enough as hackers can figure out simple alphanumeric patterns.”

Here are the so-called "worst passwords of 2019"

1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. qwerty
4. password
5. 1234567
6. 12345678
7. 12345
8. iloveyou
9. 111111
10.  123123

• Stay safe with the best antivirus of 2020

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5 Star Wars spin-off movies Lucasfilm should make after The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars is dead… long live Star Wars? The Skywalker saga may have ended with The Rise of Skywalker, but the galaxy lives on, with The Mandalorian and the upcoming Obi-Wan series on TV and a new Star Wars film arriving in 2022. 

But what will that movie be? At the moment, no one outside of Lucasfilm and Disney has a clue. We know that MCU mastermind Kevin Feige is down to produce something, that The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson may (or may not) still be developing a series of Star Wars films and that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss definitely aren’t, but until an announcement (strongly rumored to be early next year), we’re all in the dark.

Still, it’s fun to speculate. Here then are five directions the saga could potentially go in…

The Next Generation of Jedi

One of the open goals that The Rise of Skywalker misses is in picking up the loose threads from The Last Jedi. If you’ll recall, Episode 8 ends with the implication that the Force is growing once more, far away from the Skywalker bloodline. There may well be an entire new generation of Force-users waking up to their powers. Now that the war is over, someone needs to get them in line...

Imagine an X-Men type film, where a group of charismatic tutors must help troubled young initiates avoid the perils of the Dark Side. Rey would be involved in some capacity for sure, but you could also include Maz Kanata (not a Jedi, but very much in-tune with the Force) and new characters in the vein of The Force Awakens’ Lor San Tekka, trying to guide this gifted - but also extremely dangerous - new generation into the future. Hell, even Force Ghost Luke could show up, if we can pull Mark Hamill away from Twitter.

The Syndicate Wars

One of the most fascinating aspects of Solo - a film that absolutely nobody wanted, but which managed to be fun enough to retroactively justify its existence - was its exploration of the galaxy's various criminal organizations. By the end of the movie Crimson Dawn (led by Maul, no less) is a fearsome force in the galaxy and Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) is in deeper than ever before. 

It's hard to imagine we'll be seeing a Solo 2 any time soon based on its box office, but there's plenty of mileage in following his ex. Game of Thrones may have finished, but Emilia Clarke is still a big name and could easily carry a film exploring the galaxy's shadier nooks and crannies as Qi'ra tries desperately to escape her past, dodge her saber-wielding boss and make a new life for herself. Team her up with Donald Glover's universally-loved Lando Calrissian and you have everything you need for a fun, exciting Star Wars film that’s mostly detached from the familiar bigger picture of the Empire and the Rebellion.

Knights of the Old Republic

The Knights of the Old Republic video games have become a beloved Star Wars era in their own right, every bit as cherished as the films. Set some 4000 years before the events of A New Hope, they explore the raging conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, both at the height of their powers. 

Sound overly familiar? It’s really not. KOTOR stands out thanks to its shades of grey and rich, complex characterization. Revan, in particular, is a fascinating character - truly embodying both the dark side and the light in a way that Anakin never quite managed. The era also has the benefit of being sufficiently distant from current canon that you could do pretty much anything, while still feeling like Star Wars.

Of all of these suggestions, this is the one that may actually be in development right now... Back in May, Buzzfeed reported that Altered Carbon screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis has penned a script for a potential Knights of the Old Republic film. We’re keeping all our lightsabers crossed…

Into the Unknown

Did you watch the Star Wars animated series Rebels? If you didn't, you missed out on some of the best - and most adventurous - Star Wars storytelling of the last few years. Spoilers for the fate of protagonist Ezra Bridger ahead...

Set a few years before A New Hope, the series follows the young Jedi as he joins a growing rebel cell. Now, we all know that by the time of A New Hope, Obi-Wan is the only (known) surviving Jedi, so there was always a heavy question mark hanging over his eventual fate. As it happens, Ezra survives the series, fleeing into the Unknown Regions, albeit chased by the wicked Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Something that Star Wars has sometimes suffered with is its tendency to smallness. Everyone and everything is connected. A film set in a brand new area of the galaxy, though, offers the chance to start again. The Unknown Regions are, well, unknown. There's no Empire or Rebellion here, so you wouldn't have to rely on the backstory of Rebels. Instead, this would be the story of a single Jedi, truly lost and alone, forced to rely on his wits and his lightsaber to survive. 

Poe Dameron: Sith Hunter

Honestly, who doesn't love Poe Dameron? Of all the characters introduced in the sequels, he's the one that most embodies the adventure serial vibes of the original trilogy. Somewhere between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, he's a hugely appealing lead. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that Oscar Isaac is easy on the eye.

But what does he do next? In The Last Jedi Poe is being positioned as a leader of the Resistance, but it's hard to imagine him settling down and becoming a senator in a new New Republic. Instead, we can see him living for the thrill of adventure, venturing out on missions for the new order, possibly tracking down the remainder of Palpatine's Final Order, like a futuristic nazi hunter.

He wouldn’t have to be alone, either. The Rise of Skywalker sets him up with a perfect companion in the form of Zorii Bliss, plus there would be plenty of room for his other co-stars to show up. This would be a great chance to explore the new status quo, while telling a rattling adventure yarn.

• How to watch the Star Wars movies in order
• Our review of The Rise of Skywalker
• What is Baby Yoda?

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Make in India: Oppo Plans to Assemble 100 Million Smartphones in India Next Year

https://ift.tt/2kYs8lM aims to manufacture 100 million handsets in India by the end of 2020, a top company executive said on Tuesday, adding that the year would also see an aggressive retail push to let more people experience flagship devices.

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These excellent GoPro deals are sticking around for the January Sales

If you're looking to capture the best moments of 2020, these GoPro deals are offering a fantastic price cut on some of the cheaper GoPro models in the January Sales. You can save over £100 on the Hero 7 Silver (down to just £169) and the Hero 7 Black (£278), or if you want the cheapest version possible, the Hero 7 White is reduced to just £118.30 this week. 

With the Hero 8 model releasing just two months ago, we've been looking to the Go Pro Hero 7 Silver and Black models for some hefty discounts in the 2020 sales. 

These two models represent the mid-range and higher end of the Go Pro Hero 7 range, so you're getting an excellent action camera for your cash whichever version you pick up. Both offer the hardy outer shell on which GoPro has based its name, but the Silver is slimmed down version of the high-tech Black model with the price cut to match. While you can still shoot 4K 30fps footage with video stabilization and a wide lens on the Silver, there are a few features on the Black that may draw more professionally inclined customers. 

These GoPro deals are a great way to cash in on 2020's January sales, you're picking up a GoPro Hero 7 Silver for just a hair over the cheapest it's ever been and saving a good £100 on the Black model. 

• Check out more January sales at Amazon

Today's best GoPro deals in the January sales

You can find all the best January sales right here on TechRadar - we're collecting all the best savings to bring you amazing deals throughout the holiday period. Or, if you're just looking for the best GoPro price possible, we've got you covered as well. 

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The best free screen recorder 2020: record or stream from your screen

We've tested and ranked the best free screen recorders that make it easy to record everything that's happening on your PC, complete with commentary and annotations if you want.

It's important to choose the right free screen recorder depending on what you intend to do with the footage you capture. Different recorders offer a range of differing features, can save captures in varying formats, or capture footage from external sources such as a webcam – and some even give you the opportunity to upload to the internet directly from within the program. Some run nicely on average hardware, while others are more demanding. The point is that there is plenty of choice.

No matter what you're hoping to do with footage captured from your computer, you need the right tool for the job. And this is where our look at the best free screen recorders can help – take a look and see which one is best for you.

The best free screen recorders at a glance

1. OBS Studio
2. FlashBack Express
3. Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
4. Debut Video Capture
5. ShareX

If you’re a keen gamer, OBS Studio is easily the best screen recorder for you. Unlike the hugely popular FRAPS (which only lets you record for 30 seconds at a stretch unless you’ve bought a license, and applies a watermark to the resulting footage), OBS Studio is open source, and completely free to use without restrictions.

OBS Studio supports both streaming and recording in high definition, with no restrictions on the number or length of your creations. You can stream live to Twitch or YouTube gaming, save projects and come back to them later, or encode your footage in FLV format and save it locally.

Because OBS Studio can record directly from your graphics card, it’s able to capture games running in full-screen mode (many other screen recorders can only record if the game is windowed), with customizable hotkeys to control the recording. OBS Studio can also make full use of multi-core CPUs for improved performance, and can record at 60FPS (or even higher).

It might take a little while to set it up exactly how you want, but OBS Studio is by far the best and most powerful screen recorder for gamers.

Read our full review: OBS Studio

OBS Studio is our top choice for recording from a desktop or webcam, but Flashback Express comes an extremely close second. Despite being a free version of a paid program, FlashBack Express won't put ugly watermarks over your recordings or impose time limits, and it's packed with features and tools that rival many premium programs. Its interface is less intimidating than OBS Studio, so if you've never used a screen recorder before, it's an excellent choice.

You can record from your whole screen, a window, a selected area, or a webcam. Once you’ve finished, your recording will appear in a simple editor, where you can crop and trim it to suit your needs, then export it to YouTube, an FTP server, or your PC.

That’s all fairly standard fare for a free screen recorder, but take a minute to dive into Flashback’s advanced options and you’ll find a wealth of thoughtfully designed settings that will make your desktop recordings look truly professional. The recorder can automatically obscure passwords entered on screen, replace your silly wallpaper with a plain one, hide messy desktop icons, and highlight your mouse pointer to make it easier to follow. There's also a dedicated gaming mode that lets you define the number of frames recorded per second.

There’s no limit on the length of your recordings unless you choose to set one, which can be useful if there’s a chance you might accidentally leave the recorder running. You can also choose to break long recordings up into chunks – a brilliant touch that helps you avoid creating huge, unwieldy files. Your recordings won’t be watermarked, either.

Following a recent update, Flashback Express can export in WMV, AVI and MP4 formats, eliminating the need for a separate video converter, and it no longer requires a free license key for activation – just install the software and you're ready to start recording.

Developer Blueberry Software has also released a free screen recorder designed specifically for games – FBX. This recorder captures HD in-game footage, with hardware acceleration for AMD and Nvidia cards, and Intel CPUs.

If you're thinking about upgrading to FlashBack Pro, Blueberry software is offering TechRadar readers an exclusive 25% discount.

Read our full review: Flashback Express

If you want to record a presentation, software demonstration or tutorial, give Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder a try. It's a browser-based tool, which means it's not suitable for games, but for any other tasks it's ideal.

The first time you use Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder, you'll be prompted to download a small launcher application. You'll then be provided with a control bar packed with more options than you'll find in most desktop screen recording software. You can capture footage from your desktop or a webcam, and record audio from your PC, microphone, both or neither.

You can record the whole screen, select an area manually or choose one of the preset resolutions – ideal if you’re recording a clip for YouTube, for example, and don’t want to use a separate video editor to resize it later.

Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder also offers customizable keyboard shortcuts for speed and convenience. You can choose whether or not to include the cursor in the recording and take your pick from a range of output formats including MP4, WMV, AVI, MOV and many more. You can even add annotations during the recording.

Once you’re done, you can save the recording as a video file or GIF, upload it directly to YouTube or Vimeo, or send it to Google Drive or Dropbox. You can also edit the clip. Selecting this option will download an additional component – Apowersoft Video Editor – which lets you make simple adjustments before exporting your video in your preferred format. A truly exceptional tool.

Note that the 'Download desktop version' button links to a program called Apowersoft Screen Recorder Pro. This is a trial version of a premium application, and is more limited than Online Screen Recorder.

Read our full review: Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder

Debut Video Capture is a new addition to our roundup of free screen recorders, and although its slightly dated design does it few favors, it's an extremely powerful program that can do much more than just capture what's happening on your PC monitor.

In addition to basic screen recording (with no time limits or watermarks), Debut Video Capture can also record footage from external devices, including webcams and security cameras. It can even record on a regular schedule, which means it can become the main hub of a home security system. Not too shabby for a program that's totally free for personal use.

There are no post-production editing tools, but you can apply filters and add your own captions and watermarks before you begin recording. There's no option for exporting videos directly to YouTube or Facebook, but they can be saved in all the main formats, including MP4, MOV and AVI (to name just three).

Debut Video Capture is currently in public beta, so we look forward to seeing the final release version with a lick of extra polish soon.

Read our full review: Debut Video Capture

ShareX is an open source app for capturing still screen grabs and recording videos. There are no watermarks or time limits to worry about, but the interface isn't the most intuitive in the world so you’ll be best off using keyboard shortcuts. For quick reference, you can start a recording by tapping Shift + Print Screen, and stop it again using Ctrl + Shift + Print Screen.

You can also use this free screen recorder to save your capture as a GIF rather than a video file, which can be extremely useful for sharing on forums and social media.

Not only is ShareX a brilliant free screen recorder, it can also capture an entire scrolling webpage, capture and identify text via OCR, and even capture your screen according to a schedule.

Another of its best features is the ability to send your captured grabs and videos straight to a file-sharing or social media site. There’s a vast array of options, which you can check out on the project’s site.

Unfortunately, ShareX doesn’t support taking screen grabs or recordings from games running in full-screen mode. Other than that, it’s a superb screen recorder that will serve you extremely well.

Watch our rundown of our favourite free video editors: 

• Read more: our guide to the best free video editing software

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How to watch Doctor Who New Year Special online: stream for free from the UK or abroad

To think, we're about to wrap up another year and enter 2020. So what's the perfect way to celebrate? A big party? Celebrations with the entire family? Or maybe you just want to watch the Doctor Who New Years Special online - surely the best way to start a new year!

And considering Whovians have had to hold out an entire year since the last time they got to see a new dose of Doctor Who action, this will be at the top of most people's festive TV watching plans.

And some even better news - this episode is set to be one of the biggest and longest in the show's entire history, so big in fact that they've split it into two parts just to fit all of that action.

Of course, Doctor Who is normally somewhat of a Christmas tradition, moving from its Christmas Day slot into the New Year. So for those losing their favorite Christmas past-time, this double bill action will be just the news you were looking for.

We've done the research, tracked down times, locations and everything you need to know to watch Doctor Who New Year Special online and listed it all below. We've even got options for those out of the UK while the episode airs!

How to watch Doctor Who New Year special online for free in the UK:

Ready to catch Doctor Who in all of its glory once again? Tune into BBC One on New Year's Day at 6.55pm to see it all go down. And then lucky us! There's a follow up episode coming along on Sunday, January 5.

Rather watch the episode from your laptop, tablet, mobile or other device? Luckily, that's still possible. Simply head to either the BBC iPlayer app or the TVPlayer service. Both are completely free to use and will give full access to both New Year Doctor Who episodes.

Stream Doctor Who from anywhere else in the world for free:

Away on holiday for New Year's Day or currently living abroad? Sadly, this will mean the Doctor Who episodes are geo-blocked for you. Luckily there's an easy solution to remedy this.

All you have to do is appear like you're back in the UK thanks to the use of a VPN. A VPN is a tool that alters your IP address to make it look like you're somewhere else - perfect for trying to stream TV.

Our vote for the best VPN service goes to ExpressVPN but how do you install one and how can that be used to watch Doctor Who New Year Special online? Read on to answer all of these questions.

How to watch Doctor Who in the US

Watch old episodes of Doctor Who online

New to the Doctor Who franchise? There's a lot to catch up on but luckily, no matter where you are, it's easy to watch all of the Doctor Who episodes:

Watch all the series of 'new' Doctor Who from the UK

Doctor Who has a very long history and unfortunately there is no easy way to watch every episode ever. However, BBC has stepped on up in heroic fashion to offer you everything since the show returned in 2005. That means you can catch up a wealth of content over on BBC iPlayer.

The show was also free to watch on the Amazon Prime subscription for a while but will now cost you per episode if you look to go that way. Looking for a full session of binge-watching? Britbox will be the way to go, with all the classic Doctor Who dating from its first ever episodes in the 60s. However, Britbox will require a VPN to circumvent its USA and Canada geo-restriction – scroll up for all the info on that.

Watch previous Doctor Who seasons online in the US

Doctor Who fans Stateside can also revisit old episodes of the programme via the Britbox service mentioned above.

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What is Amazon Kinesis?

A constant flow of information in business is more like a firehose than any of us want to imagine. It’s a steady stream, often bursting at the seams, and it doesn’t let up. Tracking and managing that firehose of data can be a Herculean task because you’re always playing catch-up -- analyzing the data after it has been transmitted and generating reports at a later date. The problem, of course, is that “the later date” never comes and sometimes we process reams and reams of data, store it and archive it, without ever really analyzing it.

Amazon Kinesis is a real-time cloud analytics engine that collects, analyzes, and reports on data transmission in your company as it happens, using the power of cloud computing services. You can think of it as a pipe that connects two firehoses -- the data comes in, Amazon Kinesis can analyze it as it transmits, and then the data keeps flowing. Instead of using an analytics dashboard or generating that are only helpful later, you can make business decisions and respond to data flows in real-time.

As an example of this, think about a vast multiplayer gaming system where thousands or even millions of gamers participate online. Talk about a steady flow of data. There are thousands of data requests in terms of player movements, rewards they collect, and achievements in the game not to mention the transactional data -- what they purchase in the game and their records in terms of what they can access and how they pay for their membership.

For a company running a gaming network like that, it’s easy to see how complex the interactions are between gamers, the network, and the IT infrastructure management required to host the game. Amazon Kinesis tracks the interactions at every level as it happens. For example, if there’s a new high-score for a multiplayer battle -- say, completing a level in record time or defeating every opponent -- Amazon Kinesis can report on this information within seconds.

For other data throughput scenarios, real-time analysis and reporting are incredibly valuable. This can include scenarios such as connected smart home devices and Internet of Things devices, medical records for a large hospital chain, data collected from a car and analyzed for machine learning application such as autonomous driving, or even on a website to find out exactly which sections of an e-commerce website someone visits and where they click.

Benefits of Amazon Kinesis

One of the key benefits to Amazon Kinesis is that the business decision-makers, developers, analysts, and data scientists are all better informed and able to make better (and faster) decisions. The firehose of data is not so overwhelming. The rich analytics and business intelligence is all available right away, not just as part of a report or a dashboard that summarizes findings. There’s no need to wait until all of the data is collected and put under a microscope because the microscope is constantly looking at the data as it flows on the network.

There are quite a few practical benefits to this, starting with the ability to improve your service. In the case of the multiplayer gaming system, there are tradition benefits such as reporting back to the user on high-scores and achievements, but perhaps even more importantly it means companies can examine and problems on the system in real-time and deal with them as they occur, not after the problems have caused users to unsubscribe.

Another practical benefit has to do with the speed of decision making. Because the analytics are provided in real-time as they happen, companies can then make real-time decisions about that data. In the example of the autonomous car, an automaker might run a simulation in a crowded urban area to see how the robotic vehicle performs, and make decisions about the GPS fleet tracking, location data and the sensors that track how the car adjusts its speed.

In a traditional model, where data is summarized later, the automaker might run simulations and then analyze the data later. One reason this is sometimes true has to do with the scope of the needs for data discovery and reporting. Some companies just can’t manage and maintain the infrastructure required for real-time data analytics. That’s another major advantage to use Amazon Kinesis because the service can scale according to your real-time data analysis needs. There’s no need to build-out the infrastructure first or to scale p or down for each new project.

This also helps tremendously with the costs. Typically, real-time data analytics is complex, difficult to manage, and requires high-end servers, networks, and vast amounts of online storage but Amazon Kinesis can scale according to the project needs and scope. Yet the costs are related to the actual analytics you perform. With traditional batch processing for data analytics, one that is housed and analyzed in a traditional on-premise data center, that’s just not the case.

• Keep your business safe with the best cloud firewall.

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WhatsApp will stop working on certain phones on January 1

If you own a Windows phone, you might want to look for a replacement in the January sales, because WhatsApp is ending support for Windows 10 Mobile imminently.

You won't just stop receiving updates and new features. According to Facebook (WhatsApp's parent company), after December 31 you will be unable to use the app on your device at all.

• Looking for a new handset? Here are the best phones of 2020
• Dark mode for WhatsApp: everything you neeed to know
• How to enable dark mode for Facebook

There's no need to panic, though. While it's not as convenient, you will still be able to log into WhatsApp by visiting the site in your phone's web browser. You could also use Telegram or Skype to wish your loved ones a happy 2020.

Bad news for older phones

As MSPowerUser reports, WhatsApp is also ending support for older iOS and Android devices, though owners of these phones have a little longer to upgrade. Handsets running iOS 7 or older, and Android 2.3.7 and older, will lose access to WhatsApp on February 1.

All these devices are relatively old. There have been no new Windows 10 Mobile handsets since 2015, and iOS 7 and Android 2.3.7 are from 2013 and 2010 respectively.

Windows 10 Mobile still has a base of dedicated users who have hung onto their handsets, and even petitioned Microsoft to build a Surface Phone so they would have an alternative to Apple and Google, but the platform's days are well and truly numbered. The forthcoming Microsoft Surface Duo (which Microsoft refuses to call a phone, even though it can make calls and fits neatly into one hand) will run Android instead, and the company seemingly has no plans to develop a new operating system for phones.

• The best Android apps to download in 2020

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Cybersecurity threats to watch out for

The internet can be a hostile environment. The threat of cyberattack is ever-present as new vulnerabilities are released and a commodity of tools are produced to exploit them. Therefore, the pressure on organisations (and their employees) to protect customer data and defend against attacks, is mounting.

But aside from using Firewalls and antivirus software, how can we expect businesses, especially smaller businesses with limited security budgets and skills, to keep on top of evolving threats? 

As our 2019 Nastiest Malware List highlights, cyberattacks are becoming more advanced and difficult to detect. From ransomware strains to cryptomining campaigns – that deliver the most attack payloads beyond phishing – cybercriminals are making better use of stolen, personal information available to craft more convincing and targeted attacks.

Ultimately, what this means is that doing nothing is no longer an option. It’s time that organisations step up, learning how to spot potential threats and the implications behind these attack tactics. This starts with understanding the ‘nastiest’ threats out there today that are leaving businesses at risk. 

Botnets: delivering mass disruption

Botnets have continued to dominate the infection attack chain in 2019. No other type of malware was responsible for delivering more ransomware and cryptomining payloads. 

Emotet, which was the most prevalent malware of 2018, held onto that notorious distinction into 2019. While it was briefly shut down in June, Emotet returned from the dead in September, and remains the largest botnet to date, delivering various malicious payloads.

Trickbot has been partnering with banking Trojan groups like IcedID and Ursif in 2019. Its modular infrastructure makes it a serious threat for any network it infects and, when combined with Ryuk ransomware, it's one of the more devastating targeted attacks of 2019.

Dridex was once one of the most prominent banking trojans. Now it acts as an implant in the infection chain with the Bitpaymer ransomware and is achieving alarming success.

The triple threat of Emotet, Trickbot and Ryuk

Ransomware has been around for nearly a decade and it should come as no surprise that it’s still a firm favourite amongst cybercriminals. Ransomware remains a top threat, adopting a more targeted model last year. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are easy prey and make up most of its victims. 

And one of the most menacing ransomware evolutions comes in the form of the ‘triple threat’ attack, involving Emotet, Trickbot and Ryuk. In terms of financial damage, this is probably the most successful chain of 2019. With more targeted, reconnaissance-based operations, they now assign a value to targeted networks post-infection will extort them accordingly after deploying ransomware.

As far as other ransomware strains are concerned, GandCrab is one of the most successful examples of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) to date, with profits in excess of $2 billion. While Crysis (aka Dharma) makes its second consecutive appearance on our Nastiest Malware list. This ransomware was actively distributed in the first half of 2019, with almost all infections we observed distributed through RDP compromise.

Personalised phishing

Email-based malware campaigns grow in their complexity and believability dramatically this year. Phishing became increasingly more personalised and extortion emails have begun claiming to have captured lude behaviour using compromised passwords.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks also surged in 2019. Individuals who are responsible for sending payments or purchasing gift cards were targeted through spoof email accounts impersonating company executives or familiar parties. Victims are often tricked into giving up wire transfers, credentials, gift cards and more.

What many employees don’t realise is that often, the biggest security concern at the office is one of their co-workers, not a hacker in some remote location. A lack of best practices like poor domain administration, being reactive, not proactive, reuse and sharing of passwords, and lack of multi-factor authentication all mean bad actors may already be ‘phishing’ amongst them.

Cryptomining and Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking (also called malicious cryptomining) is an emerging online threat that hides on a computer or mobile device and uses the machine’s resources to “mine” forms of online money known as cryptocurrencies. It’s a menace that can take over web browsers and compromise all kinds of devices, from desktops and laptops, to smartphones and even network servers. And according to Webroot’s research, these attacks rise and fall with the relative market cap of cryptocurrency price. The largest campaign of cryptojacking this year is through the ‘Retadup’ attacks and the most innovative was ‘Hidden Bee’. 

Hidden Bee tactics have a complex and multi-layered internal structure that is unusual among cybercrime toolkits, making it an interesting addition to the threat landscape. It first emerged last year with IE exploits and has now evolved into payloads inside JPEG and PNG images through Steganography and WAV media formats flash exploits. The additional difficulty in the analysis is introduced by the fact that the URLs and encryption keys are never reused and work only for a single session.

Whereas Retadup, is a cryptomining worm, that first started last year and was removed in August by Cybercrime Fighting Center (C3N) of the French National Gendarmerie, after they took control of the malware’s command and control server. It stealthily uses a computer’s processor to mine cryptocurrency, which generates money for the operators. It’s also able to run other types of malware, such as ransomware, and is commonly spread via attachments, file-sharing networks and links to malicious websites. Peak infection counts had Retadup on over 800k machines simultaneously.

Closing critical security gaps

These nastiest threats highlight how a comprehensive approach to endpoint security is needed now more than ever, to keep up with these various and complex attack models. Attackers may be using the same strains of malware, but they are making better use of stolen personal information available for more personalised threats. As a result, organisations need to adopt a layered security approach and not underestimate the power of consistent security training as they work to improve their cyber resiliency and protection.

After all, a business that practices good risk management not only protects its reputation, intellectual property and data, but will also offer its customers a measure of assurance making them attractive to do business with.

• We feature the best cloud antivirus here.

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These Oculus Go deals make virtual reality even cheaper in January Sales

If you're curious about entering the world of virtual reality in 2020, you'll want to start with these excellent Oculus Go deals. The cheap VR headset is currently £50 less on Amazon, with the deal spanning both the 32GB and 64GB models, meaning you can pick up an Oculus Go deal for just £149 in the January Sales. 

You're getting access to an amazing world of virtual reality experiences, though you won't find the entire Oculus store available on the Go. This is a slimmed down experience with the price tag to match, so you'll still be playing fantastic games and have access to a wide range of virtual experiences and streaming but don't expect the full library of the Quest or Rift straight from the off. 

Instead, this headset is geared towards the curious or simply those who don't want to splash out on an expensive PC to run their virtual reality - which makes these cheap Oculus Go deals even better.

Today's best Oculus Go deals for January sales

It's not the first time we've seen these headsets at such low prices: the 32GB model reached £149.99 over Black Friday, and continues to hover around that price, though we expect it will shoot back up to its RRP before the year is out, if not very early in 2020.

The 64GB model is also only £199.99, down from £249.99 – we saw it drop briefly to £189.99 but it's still a decent saving on an entry-level VR headset, and less than half the price of the more premium Oculus Quest.

If you're not in the UK, you can see the cheapest Oculus Go prices in your region below:

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Digital identity: enabling the new economy

As our lives become increasingly dependent on the internet, establishing trust becomes vital to society. Yet, the old ways of documenting and verifying trust are no longer fit for purpose: documents get faked; static data gets hacked; and consumers continue to opt for convenience over security. Hackers and malware remain ever present threats and consumers still need to use antivirus software.

Close your eyes, and picture Britain in 1939. Bracing for a Second World War, the country introduces military conscription and the National Registration Bill, requiring every citizen to carry a national identity card at all times. One single document – one piece of information – to verify that you are who you say you are. 

Fast forward 80 years, past multiple technological breakthroughs: the industrialisation of fossil fuels; commercial aviation; smart grids and electricity storage; global telecommunications; and of course, the internet. The march of technology never stops, and we’re now propelling ourselves towards post-digital life, living in smart cities and connected homes; working in the automated age; moving and spending across borders. 

These global shifts have already radically re-shaped the way we live. Yet, the ways we establish trust and verify identity remain stuck in the past, primarily still linked to government databases such as the electoral roll, and private sector datasets like credit scores. 

You could say that the internet, which emerged to become the dominant technological platform of our time – was built without identity in mind.

A connected world

As the public and private sectors wake up to the power and potential of a connected world, more and more questions arise. How can credit card processing truly be verified, when the seller can’t see the buyer? How can an organisation know you are who you claim to be, when you sign up for a new service online? And as we build our lives around an increasingly complex Internet of Things (IoT), a sprawling platform that anonymises and connects together our digital breadcrumb trails, how do we create trust? 

Where does this leave us today? In a clear transition phase. The private sector now walks the tightrope of balancing experience with endpoint security, as the public sector tries to keep pace and create governance that protects without hindering innovation. Meanwhile, technology pioneers are stitching together a new layer in our connected world – a layer of trusted, global data that bring the concept of identity into this century and future-proof it for the next.

This evolution in identity management means it’ll take a step-change in the data points we use and the way we use them, to power trust in the digital economy. A wave of new approaches and data sources will be used to not only protect both sides of each online and offline interaction, but also provide context around an individual’s background and behaviour. As our digital identity comprises an increasingly rich set of contextual data points, organisations will be able to verify not only identity, but authenticity – bringing a new type of trust to online interactions and enabling them to infuse due diligence with data intelligence.

Proving who you are with your biological characteristics is another next step we are seeing, in this evolution of identity. As the era of smartphones and wearables makes technology more personal than ever, advances in the availability and reliability of biometric technologies – that measure unique physical characteristics such as an individual’s face, fingerprint or behavioural biometrics – will bring us a lot closer to the ability to verify the identity of almost anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time.

Beyond biometrics

Other emerging, horizontal technologies will also become increasingly prevalent. Microservices linked up through a platform approach will connect disparate data and services together; static verification will power ongoing, ‘ambient’ authentication; distributed ledgers could become an effective way to decentralise ownership and balance the demands of privacy and convenience; Machine Learning (ML) and augmented intelligence will help organisations make faster, more accurate decisions on how best to identify their customers.

That’s not to say there won’t be risks, too. The implementation of new verification technologies won’t be seamless, and communicating their value will be key. Pilots of facial recognition technology by law enforcement, for example, have triggered the kind of backlash we often see when disruptive technologies begin to establish a ‘new normal’ in business and daily life. In this case, as our digital identity trails fragment and tracking crime becomes more complex, it’s hard to imagine a future where these technologies are not used widely. The private sector already embraces new forms of identity verification for employee monitoring, and it benefits consumers every single day from checking their bank balance to ordering a food delivery – the services they use are vastly more flexible, convenient and secure for it.

Clearly, through all of this transformation we will see a consistent debate over data privacy and a constant battle for data security. It will truly take a combined effort to educate citizens on the fundamentals of data security, and stay one step ahead of cyber-criminals – ensuring that contextual, connected identity intelligence is a safe, secure layer in the new economy and our post-digital world.

• Stay safe and anonymous online with the best VPN.

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Realme 5 Pro, Realme X Start Receiving Updates in India With December Android Security Update, Other Changes

https://ift.tt/2NZCRuZ has begun the rollout of stable software updates for the Realme 5 Pro and Realme X that bring the December Android security patch for users in India.

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Honor 9X, 8 Smart Products Including Honor Vision TV Coming to India Soon: Honor India President Charles Peng

https://ift.tt/2FcxsND is planning to launch new smartphones in India with its own software

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Vivo Patent Applications Reveal Quad Front Camera Phones With Hole-Punch Design: Report

https://ift.tt/2zvZJhE has been granted a patent for phones packing quad front cameras housed in a hole-punch cutout with different positioning options.

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2019's 'Phone Deal of the Year' remains the best SIM only plan for the 2020 January sales

Ben Stokes, Olivia Colman, Margaret Atwood/Bernardine Evaristo. They all took home some prestigious prizes in 2019. And phone network Three joined in the back-slapping fun when it won the prize for 'Phone Deal of the Year' at October's Mobile Choice Consumer Awards.

Its unlimited data SIM only deal took home the gong for the second time in three years, which is obviously great news for Three. But the even better news for you is that you can still get the offer now.

So that means absolutely unlimited data, calls and texts for a mere £18 per month. In a SIM only deals market that seems to get fiercer and fiercer by the day, Three's all-you-can-eat offer remains our favourite of the lot.

We've got more details about the offer below or, if monthly bills of £18 still sound a bit on the high side, keep scrolling to see what other SIM only deals are out there right now.

• More like this: The best early January sales and deals for 2020

Three's award winning SIM only deal:

• Check out the best SIM-free phone deals to combine with these offers

What does a SIM only deal with Three offer?

If you haven't already been won over by this amazing offer from Three then you'll be excited to hear that the network doesn't shy away from offering up some extra incentives as well.

Whether that be free exclusive prizes or extra roaming. You can see all of best parts of a Three SIM only deal or Three mobile deals down below.

• Wuntu - Exclusive offers and freebies with Three's rewards app
• Go Roam - Roaming abilities in 71 worldwide countries at no extra cost
• Travel Swagger - Get travel upgrades with Easyjet with bag drop and early boarding

What other SIM only deals are out there?

£18 per month for unlimited data is undeniably great value, but you can trim your bills even more. In fact, you can get them all the way down to a fiver a month with iD Mobile, if you can manage on 1GB of data.

Our other go-to recommendation at the moment comes from the lesser-known Smarty. With two limited time offers, it is attracting swathes of new customers its way. Choose from either 30GB data for a tenner, or go all out on 50GB for £15 per month. Fantastic value that gets even better when you discover that you'll be put on a 30-day rolling contract that you can break whenever's convenient for you.

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Top five trends that will shape the technology sector in UAE in 2020

With 2019 been a challenging and a transition year, how is 2020 going to be for the information and communications technology in the UAE and what the top trends are that will shape the industry.

Jyoti Lalchandani, vice-president and regional managing director for research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), told in an exclusive to TechRadar Middle East that ICT spending in the UAE is expected to increase by 3.80% to $16.84b compared to $16.22b a year ago.

The research firm has revised its forecast for this year from $16.7b due to a slowdown in the telecommunications sector.

He said that telecom services are feeling the impact of weak consumer confidence and a slowdown in mobile data services.

Even in 2020, the telecom sector is expected to grow the slowest at 1.01% while devices and infrastructure sectors are expected to grow close to 6% and software and IT services (hardware and support services, consulting services, training, education, system integration services, managed services, outsourcing) are expected to grow close to 8%.

 “Commercial segment is looking more positive than the consumer space. The consumer side is going to face pressure due to weak consumer confidence, uptake of trade between the countries, retail, real estate, hospitality,” he said.

On the commercial segment, he said that the services market is growing, driven by strong uptake in cloud-based services, interesting movements on the systems and storage side.

The shifting trends across the globe, he said is that enterprise customers are taking a more cautious approach when investing and in expanding. There is a number of variables such as assumption around global trade, will oil prices be flat or is it going to fluctuate, regional political uncertainty, cost of living index and economic growth.

However, he said that organisations are investing in technology to drive certain things.

“They are investing in technology to get operational efficiency, to cut cost and are investing in Opex-based models such as cloud, and create new revenue streams using AI and cognitive technologies,” he said.

Moreover, he said that people are looking at Expo 2020 and investments regarding it are almost done. 

With 5G gaining adoption, the industry is going to see a significant intake of AI and the internet of things.

Top five trends in 2020

1. Cloud

Public cloud services are seeing a big uptake. The public cloud market is expected to grow by 35% to $406m compared to $299m this year.

Two-thirds of the organisations will approach the cloud through a hybrid model. Organisations in public and government sectors, retail, utilities, transportation, wholesale distribution, hospitality are on the public cloud.

Due to some of the regulatory challenges, banking and financial services and some of the mission-critical applications rely on building their private cloud infrastructure.

The overall business environment is a strong driver for the uptake in cloud services. CFOs love it as it is opex-based and organisation line of business loves it because they get agility and speed. IT organisations love it because of the scale it provides while channels love it because of the “lift and shift” approach as companies move from on-premises to the cloud.  

The on-premise [non-cloud] spending is declining quite rapidly and a lot of spending is moving to the cloud as a subscription-based model. Speed and agility are the key drivers for the cloud.

There is going to be a consolidation in the public cloud space to key four or five players. Cost is going to be a key factor when moving to the cloud for organisations. 

2. Digital transformation

Organisations are getting a bit more aggressive on digital transformation. A lot of pilot projects will enter the mainstream.

A lot of projects and initiatives are around transforming the customer experience. Organisations are leveraging some of the technologies to enrich the customer experience.

Some of the traditional IT areas such as devices and infrastructure are slowing down and companies are using the investment to drive adoption of more disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, internet of things, big data analytics, blockchain and cloud to cut cost and drive more efficiency.

About 25% to 30% of large enterprises are currently in the process of digital transformation, investing in the third platform such as social, mobile, cloud and big data to do one of four things – to be operationally efficient, more agile, create new experiences for customers and create new revenue streams. It is a five to eight-year journey.

Initially, blockchain started off to facilitate a lot of trade financing deals between banks. It hasn’t got a lot of widespread adoption. A lot of the use cases happened in between banks to banks, Smart Dubai and Real Estate Regulatory Agency. The next phase is called the mature of a technology.

The blockchain technology will be matured when you have high volume and low-value transactions. Currently, a lot of the blockchain investments happen in low volume and high-value transactions.

In the next three to four years, blockchain will be embedded into the compute and that will open a significant amount of opportunities.

3. Cybersecurity

Security investments continue to be a major driver for growth. One of the reasons for that is companies are one of the most challenging areas for CIOs and IT.

Now, even CEOs have security as one of their top priority areas. 

Given the region in which we operate due to geopolitical issues and some of the malware that is taking place, security is becoming an important part of the agenda for banks and public sectors.

4. AI and cognitive technologies

Organisations are quite strongly investing in AI and cognitive technologies such as chatbots, analytics and robotic process automation to cut cost, boost operational efficiencies by taking out some of the repetitive tasks humans do and automating it.

The cognitive AI spend is expected to grow by 25.63% to $73.66m compared to $58.63m this year.

Banks, utilities, RTA, Dewa and public sectors have deployed AI and cognitive in a big way.

The AI and cognitive market in the UAE is set to grow between 25% and 30% year over year in the next two to three years. The impact of AI, along with 5G and IoT, will be extremely powerful.

IoT is already embedded into a lot of the technologies in manufacturing and production, fleet management, etc. IoT has become a part of the ecosystem now.

AI is going to automate several tasks and roles while creating new roles that are not yet defined today. It will create more jobs than eliminating.

To run AI and cognitive technologies, the industry needs a lot of data scientists and new skills that do not exist today. It will also force organisations to reskill some of their existing staff and resources. A lot of big organisations are already doing that and investing in training. In the autonomy phase, the machine decides, analyses and executes based on guiding principles that are set.

The overall economic situation is a key driver for that and due to lack of skills. So, these kinds of technologies play nicely into the story. It works 24/7 operation and lesser mistakes or risks compared to humans, so productivity and efficiency are a lot more at a lesser cost.

A lot of private and public sectors have leveraged some of these technologies to automate and cut costs. So, we are seeing an explosion in the digital workforce.

5. Restructuring

Organisations are making fundamental changes in their organisational focus areas and priorities. Several companies are resetting their plans, given the overall economic environment across the region, in rightsizing in several areas, especially in banking, retail, hospitality, banking and financial services.

Organisations need to rightsize in the next two to three years as it is going to be challenging. Organisations are holding back on investments and cutting staff to adapt to the business environment.

Consolidation is taking place in the banking sector and retail margins are under pressure, re-export from Dubai to other regions is down and there is an impact on financial [insurance] services and education sectors.

• AI is the fuel to develop non-oil industries in UAE
• Governments and businesses begin to realise the shift towards AI
• UAE banks are embracing financial technology to evolve and grow

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Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro Alleged Price and Specifications Tipped Online, Rumoured to Feature Quad Rear Cameras

https://ift.tt/2rpXWn6 10 and Mi 10 Pro are speculated to carry a starting price of CNY 3,199 (roughly Rs. 32,700). Both phones are rumoured to have a 90Hz OLED display and quad rear cameras.

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Telecommunications regulator to unveil UAE's 5G strategy for next five years

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE will unveil the “UAE 5G Strategy” for the next five years soon.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East on the sidelines of the “UAE 5G Conference” on Sunday, Tariq Al Awadi, Executive Director of Spectrum Affairs at TRA UAE, said the strategy will chalk out the roadmap to accommodate and implement 5G for the next five years.

“We will announce what kind of frequency bands will be assigned to operators every year based on use cases and verticals. By 2025, we will have 100% coverage of the UAE with 5G millimetre wave (24.25GHz to the 86GHz),” he said.

Telecom operators in the UAE, etisalat and du, are offering 5G services in the C-band (3.3GHz-3.8GHz).

When the technology is ready from the vendors, he said that telecom operators will provide the network and TRA will provide a good spectrum.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, said that some verticals will get more priority if they have a 5G application and telco operators need to provide the network infrastructure.

“Dubai Silicon Oasis is testing autonomous cars right now. As it is a remote location and there is no real business use case, we are providing the 5G network,” he said.

Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) has set a dedicated route for carrying the test-runs required in collaboration with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

DSOA and RTA have conducted a Leaders Category of the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport which included a series of placement tests that relate to endurance and authenticity and the ability to drive under traffic conditions simulative to reality such as water sprinklers, different sizes of road humps, sandblasting machines, etc.

According to the Dubai Future Foundation’s ‘Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy’, 25% of the total transportation in Dubai to be in autonomous mode by 2030, involving 5m daily trips, and save AED 22b in annual economic costs.

• GSMA expects cross-border data sharing to take off in Mena from next year
• Intelligent connectivity to drive huge economic growth and create value across industries
• GSMA looks into interoperability of 5G equipment from networking  vendors 
• 5G adoption will reach 6.3% of total connections in Mena in 2025

400MHz of C-band to be allocated to telcos in 2020

Al Awadi said that there are some use cases for 5G but “we are still in the early stages. Organisations are still working on developing 5G standards and one of the big challenges for 5G is to develop standards,” he said.

Beginning of 2020, he said that TRA will allocate 400MHz of the C-band to the telecom operators and the 5G committee at TRA will be restructured to focus only on verticals.

Al Awadi said that the UAE had issues with satellite operators such as Thuraya and Yahsat in the C-band but has made some technical arrangements on how to protect their air stations.

“Satellite operators are using the 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz spectrum and we are taking from them 400MHz and giving them 400MHz spectrum. In the 400MHz, satellite operators have Vsat (very small aperture terminal or air stations (Thuraya and Yahsat).

Moreover, he said that the area surrounding the satellite operators’ space will be protected and that space will not have 5G coverage.

“We have told Vsat to move from 3.8GHz to 4.2GHz,” he said.

However, he said that the 5G business model is different from 3G and 4G and the UAE is ready for the fourth industrial revolution and the spectrum is ready.

“The devices for verticals such as manufacturing, utilities, healthcare, retail, agriculture and

Automotive, etc. are not yet ready but the network will be ready. The new use cases are the ones which will make 5G a success,” he said.

Telcos urged to partner with public and private sectors

To make 5G a success, he urged telecom operators to make government entities and private sectors as partners and not as customers.

“If you treat them as ordinary customers, you [telcos] will not succeed. You need to work with them and see their needs and treat them as partners,” he said.

When asked whether UAE will provide a dedicated 5G private network for universities and industries as in Germany, he said that only Germany does it and that is because they have big industries.

“Right now, we are offering only the spectrum to telecom operators and not to private networks. If we do that, then we will not have a very good 5G network in the UAE,” he said.

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Realme to Promote Apps and Commercial Links in ColorOS 6: All Details

https://ift.tt/2NZCRuZ on Monday took to the forums to announce the roll out of this content recommendation feature. All Realme phones with ColorOS 6 will receive such recommendation updates that will promote apps and commercial links.

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Adoption of AI in Middle East may slow down due to some key challenges

Although the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business is still in its infancy and questions remain open about the pace of progress, the lack of adequate skills to support AI projects, immature market ecosystem, lack of clean data and regulatory implications are the key challenges which might slow down the adoption in the Middle East, an industry expert said.

Speaking to TechRadar Middle East, Manish Ranjan, Program Manager for software and cloud at research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), said that there are a lot of AI-centric initiatives and mega projects in various stages in the Gulf countries.

In the UAE, there is UAE AI Strategy and various AI research labs by public and private sectors (ADDA, Dewa, Huawei and Smart Dubai), and AI university.

Saudi Arabia recently unveiled a new National Centre for AI, a national AI regulator, a National Data Management Office and is already delivering its first AI college.

“Organisations, especially from government, banking and finance, retail and resource industries are increasingly leveraging AI and ML to automate and optimise their businesses and operations,” Ranjan said.

The use cases around AI is still evolving where organisations are using various sub-sets of the AI technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), image/video analytics, machine learning (ML), and other technologies to answer questions, discover insights, and provide recommendations.

Many believe there may not be a single technology that will shape our world more in the next 50 years than AI, Sam Blatteis, CEO of The MENA Catalysts, a public policy consulting firm for government innovation arms and high tech multinationals, said and added that it has rapidly evolved into the hottest area in legislation in the Gulf.

This is the first time governments around the world are simultaneously releasing national plans to develop the same field, he said.

Being a subset of AI techniques, Ranjan said that ML enables computer systems to learn from past experiences by analysing a huge amount of data and improve their behaviour for a given task.

Many global vendors have started embedding AI, ML, and cognitive applications to provide ultimate business benefits to their users.

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Lack of adequate data

In general, globally or regionally, Ranjan said that organisations are leveraging data and information (both structured and unstructured data/information) to educate their AI platforms to bring automation and improve operational efficiency—this has put data as a focal point.

“Data is instrumental for AI platforms and solutions to help the system become more intelligent by learning fast. If there is a lack of adequate and variety of data, AI would reflect a slow learning curve and the accuracy might also be impacted. The AI systems which can be able to process a vast amount of data in real-time would show greater results,” he said.

According to a survey conducted on CIOs by IDC, over 50% of organisations across the Middle East highlighted their plans to leverage cognitive and AI solutions by 2020.

“Definitely, the year 2020 would highlight some of the AI projects which were in proof of concept or sandboxing phase last year. We will see more commercial AI use cases emerging as the market matures,” Ranjan said.

According to IDC, spending on artificial intelligence systems for the UAE and Saudi Arabia combined is forecast to reach $132.3 million in 2020, witnessing an increase of 23.8% compared to 2019.

The spending in the UAE for next year is forecast to be $73.6m and $58.6m for Saudi Arabia.

  “The AI software applications and AI platforms markets continue to show steady growth in the Middle East and Africa region, and we expect this momentum to continue over the forecast period,” Ranjan said.

The top use cases of AI solutions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are automated threat intelligence and prevention systems, automated customer service agents, IT automation, fraud analysis and investigation, defence, terrorism, investigation and government intelligence systems, and digital assistants for enterprise knowledge workers.

However, Ranjan said that even if AI matures in future, “we can still not think of complete seclusion from human intelligence. We will have bots and machines taking the workloads which would be extremely efficient and at one point almost error-free; however, we would still require human intelligence.”

“How we legislate AI will become one of the defining themes of the next five years,” the CEO of the MENA Catalysts said. “We need to set strategic ‘rules of the road’ from the start — not to over-regulate, but to provide regulatory predictability to attract expertise, ideas, and capital.”

Moreover, if the Gulf is to develop knowledge industries of the future, he said that education here must be reimagined.

“We have to think about how we can ‘hack education’ to reprogram our education system, change course and plot a new education strategy. We should be teaching physics to kindergartners, robotics and computer programming in every school,” Blatteis said.

Machine learning, deep learning and big data are some of the most highly sought-after skills in the industry.

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What is Baby Yoda?

Star Wars fans were thrilled about The Mandalorian the second it was announced as the flagship show of Disney Plus, but few could've predicted that Baby Yoda would steal the show. The first live-action TV series to come out of the Star Wars universe features a guy who dresses a lot like Boba Fett with his own interesting background story, but The Child, as he's known, is arguably the real star. 

Since making his debut in The Mandalorian in November, Baby Yoda has been a sensation. A cuter, younger version of the ancient Jedi master, he’s one of the most endearing creatures ever seen in the Star Wars universe, and has since become the talk of the internet – a walking merchandising opportunity, and the source of wholesome memes.

But what is Baby Yoda? How does he fit into the Star Wars universe? And what will we learn about him in The Mandalorian season 2? We unleash the Bothan spies to find out.

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What do we know about Baby Yoda?

The creature who’s become known as Baby Yoda is the surprise break-out star of The Mandalorian. Wisely kept hidden from all the pre-release marketing for the most anticipated show on the newly launched Disney Plus, he made his debut at the end of the show’s first episode. This was where we discovered that the lucrative target the eponymous Mandalorian bounty hunter was pursuing was actually a green alien infant with large ears – who looked a lot like a certain diminutive Jedi Master… 

He’s clearly of massive importance to the mythology of The Mandalorian – and Star Wars as a whole. The mysterious Client (played by legendary movie director/actor Werner Herzog) hired numerous bounty hunters (including assassin droid IG-11) to bring back “The Child” – as he’s officially designated in the show – with the successful hunter being handsomely rewarded. 

The Client – who, going on his choice of Stormtrooper bodyguards and Imperial insignia around his neck – is working for the remnants of the Empire (eventually, it turns out, on behalf of Moff Gideon, introduced in The Mandalorian episode 7), and clearly wanted something from The Child. “I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it,” he tells underling scientist Dr Pershing, but we have no idea what that material might be. 

We’d be very surprised, however, if it didn’t have something to do with the Force – and rebuilding the Empire into what will become the First Order in Episodes 7, 8 and 9. Maybe they’re planning on removing the Midi-chlorians (Force-carrying particles) from his blood – that would explain why they were so keen on capturing Baby Yoda alive. 

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What are Baby Yoda's Force powers?

We've seen that Baby Yoda can use Force choke like Darth Vader, he can heal beings with the Force, he can lift objects, and he uses his power to control the course of fire in Chapter 8 of The Mandalorian. No doubt we'll see more Force powers in action as the show goes on.

 Is Baby Yoda a clone? 

The Baby Yoda clone theory suggests that Dr Pershing is actually a cloning scientist, based on the symbols on his uniform. That hints that the little alien was created on Kamino at the same facility where the Clone troopers were made, and that there's a strong connection between Baby Yoda's origins and that part of the Star Wars universe. 

Cloning is a big part of the Star Wars universe – indeed, clones fought an entire war – so the theory went that Baby Yoda could be a young copy of the original model. However, in Chapter 7 of the show, Kuiil (Nick Nolte) comments that the character doesn't look like he's been engineered, based on his experience on gene farms. So many mysteries still remain around Baby Yoda. Kuiil even dares to call him too ugly! Outrageous. 

This being Star Wars, however, there are plenty of other theories flying around the internet. One suggests he’s the child of Yoda and Yaddle, and in terms of timelines, that’s not preposterous. If Baby Yoda is 50 years old, he’d have been born about 10 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, and presumably both Yoda and Yaddle would have been on the Jedi Council at that point. It’s also unlikely, however, because Jedi have strict rules preventing romantic relationships – and Yoda’s never given us any indication he’d be the kind of guy to break them. 

Some say he could be a reincarnation of the Jedi master. That would be new territory for Star Wars, but the post-Disney buyout Star Wars universe has frequently played around with the rules of the Force, so it’s not impossible. That said, the fact that Yoda died only five years earlier makes it too late for him to have been reborn as a kid who’s now 50, so this is probably one to file in the “pinch of salt” column.

Intriguingly, the date of Baby Yoda’s birth is very close to Anakin Skywalker’s – within a year, in fact. The Phantom Menace hints very strongly that the future Darth Vader had no father and was conceived by the Midi-chlorians. Perhaps the similarly Force-sensitive Baby Yoda came into existence at the same time in the same way, as part of the Midi-chlorians’ efforts to bring balance to the force.

Finally comes the option that he’s simply some random member of Yoda’s species, with no connection to him beyond that. But hey, this is Star Wars where everyone’s destiny is interlinked, so does anyone really believe that?

What will we learn about Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian season 2?

The end of The Mandalorian season 2 suggests that its titular protagonist will be searching for Baby Yoda's homeworld. This is an enduring mystery in the Star Wars universe, and it's an exciting prospect for expanding the character's story in the second season. 

Is Baby Yoda in The Rise of Skywalker?

Sorry, but Baby Yoda does not appear in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. He remains The Mandalorian's special little guy. It's probably for the best. 

What is the name of Yoda's species?

Nobody knows – which is odd in itself. 

The Star Wars franchise has a long history of creating names for almost every character, species or planet that’s ever appeared in a movie, TV show or book – even if they’ve had mere seconds of screentime. For example, the Death Star trash compactor monster in Star Wars: A New Hope was subsequently designated a dianoga, while the space slug that tries to eat the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back is an exogorth. 

Yoda is a special case, however. Before George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, the Star Wars creator had a strict rule that specific information about Yoda and his past was out of bounds for writers. That means we have no idea where he originated or what species he belongs to. The closest Lucas came to giving anything away was describing Yoda as “the illegitimate child of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy”, though we suspect that’s not official Star Wars canon… 

It’ll be interesting to see if, now Disney is in charge, they continue to follow Lucas’s directive to keep all things Yoda classified, or use Baby Yoda as an excuse tell us more about Yoda Sr’s mysterious past.

We do know, however, that Yoda’s species is naturally strong with the Force – and not just because Yoda himself had an incredibly successful career as a Jedi master. Even as an infant, Baby Yoda has the power to levitate a giant (and angry) Mudhorn, while the only other member of the species to feature on screen, as mentioned earlier, was Yaddle, a female member of the Jedi Council. She briefly appears in The Phantom Menace. 

Why is Baby Yoda such a big deal? 

Begun, the merchandising has. 

Basically, the internet loves him – forget Porgs, this kid is arguably the cutest thing ever to come out of that galaxy far, far away. As soon as he made his debut in The Mandalorian’s first chapter, Baby Yoda became a meme generator of awe-inspiring power, and the most talked about thing in the show. Everything he does is guaranteed to make you go “Aww”, whether he’s sleeping, drinking soup, or even eating a frog creature alive – Baby Yoda can get away with pretty much anything.

Baby Yoda toys are real, and coming in 2020

It’s unlikely the merchandising bosses at Disney were complaining when the production team introduced Baby Yoda to the The Mandalorian’s story. Indeed, characters as cute as him are a dream come true for anyone who wants to sell lots of toys and clothing – unsurprisingly, there’s already some merch available (including the inevitable Funko Pop! Vinyl figure), with more to follow in 2020. 

Here's a short list of the highlights, if you need any of them in your life:

• Baby Yoda Funko! Vinyl figure
• Baby Yoda Talking Plush
• Baby Yoda Black Series figure

Still, while you might find Baby Yoda a bit cynical, the fact that showrunner Jon Favreau and Chapter One director Dave Filoni were able to hold the character reveal until the show aired – keeping Baby Yoda’s existence a secret until The Mandalorian made its debut – suggests that in this case, keeping the storytelling sacred was the priority. After all, keeping Baby Yoda a secret arguably denied The Mandalorian and Disney Plus the biggest pre-launch marketing opportunity their hot new show was ever going to get.

Baby Yoda memes: there are so many

Cementing his status as 2019's icon, Baby Yoda memes are all over the internet right now. Instead of listing them all here, we've embedded one of the highlights above, and clicking on this link will unleash more than one person can ever reasonably happen. Good luck. 

• When is the next episode of The Mandalorian?

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