NASA unveils stunning images of massive Antarctic iceberg

NASA has released stunning dark images which show the movement of the trillion-tonne iceberg — one of the largest ever recorded — that recently broke off from Antarctica.

As Antarctica remains shrouded in darkness during the Southern Hemisphere winter, NASA’s Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8 satellite captured a new snap of the 5,800 square kilometre iceberg that split off from the Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen C ice shelf on July 10-12.

The satellite imagery is a composite of Landsat 8 as it passed on July 14 and July 21 and shows that the main berg, A-68, has already lost several smaller pieces.

The latest imagery also details a group of three small, not yet released icebergs at the north end.

The calving of the iceberg left the Larsen C Ice Shelf reduced in area by more than 12%, and the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula changed forever.

Icebergs calve from Antarctica all the time, but because this one is particularly large, its path across the ocean needs to be monitored.

DRAGON FRUIT MOJITO RECIPE

Gorgeous dragon fruit juice muddled together with mint, vanilla and lime in a fruity sparkling mojito cocktail!

Ingredients

Produce

• 3 oz Dragon fruit puree
• 3 Lime
• 4 Mint, sprigs

Condiments

• 3 tbsp Agave + more

Baking & Spices

• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 
  

Drinks

• 1 1/2 cup Sparkling water + more

Frozen

• 2 cup Ice cubes

Beer, Wine & Liquor

• 2 shots Rum, white

ASUS ZenFone AR with 8GB RAM launched in India at RS 49,999

Asus has unveiled ZenFone AR in January this year and it as world’s first Smartphone with 8GB RAM. This smart phone is first that is compatible with Google’s Tango and Daydream VR platform both. Priced at Rs. 49,999, the Smartphone is exclusively available from Flipkart in black colour only. It comes bundled with a range of offers such as 10GB data voucher per recharge of Rs. 309 and above, for up to 10 recharges until March 2018, a discount of Rs. 2500 on the Google Daydream view.

The ASUS ZenFone AR has a 5.7-inch Quad-HD display with Gorilla Glass 4 on top. 

The phone delivers a VR experience with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 processor. 

The phone runs on Android Nougat and has storage of 128 GB, which is expandable through a micro SD card. 

It has a 3,300mAh battery, which supports a quick charge and can offer 60 percent in 45 minutes.

ZenFone AR is equipped with 23-megapixel Sony IMX318 camera with dual- tone flash.

The phone has two rear cameras one which supports depth sensing and the other supports motion tracking.

The front camera is 8 megapixels with 85 degrees wide angle lens. It also has laser autofocus.

Asus said about the phone that “It was developed in close cooperation with Google to deliver the best user experience”. Asus ZenFone AR comes in Charcoal black colour along with leather finish; it is priced at RS 49,999 and is exclusively available on Flipkart.

Samsung ‘accidentally’ reveals Galaxy Note 8 on Twitter

Weeks after it was rumoured that Samsung will launch its next flagship Galaxy Note 8 device in September to counter its biggest rival Apple, the South Korean giant has “accidentally” revealed the device on Twitter.

In a tweet, Samsung promoted its new processor Exynos 8895 (commonly known as Exynos 9) that is used in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.

Samsung tweeted the message with an image of a device. But the smartphone used in the promotion was neither of the Galaxy S8 flagships.

The smartphone used in the photo has an Infinity Display which has even smaller bezels than the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.

Galaxy Note 8 will have a 6.2-inch display, dual cameras, 3,300 mAh battery, the Exynos 8895 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset and 6GB RAM.

It is also rumoured that this upcoming flagship will be priciest one till now with a price tag of $900. Interestingly, the next iPhone is also rumoured to be the costliest Apple device till date with a cost price of $1,000 and will be launched in September.

WhatsApp has 1 billion daily active users globally

WhatsApp has garnered one billion daily active users around the world who transfer over 55 billion messages and one billion videos everyday, the company said on Thursday.

The monthly active users of Facebook-owned WhatsApp are over 1.3 billion and it supports 60 languages globally. Over 4.5 billion photos are shared around the world on WhatsApp every day.

The introduction of video call, Status (Posts that disappear after 24 hours), two-step verification security and a revamp in design has helped WhatsApp attract more users since last year when it had just one billion monthly active users.

Facebook recently updated the file sharing feature, letting users to share a file of any format. Users can also share multiple videos and photos at a time and send files up to 100MB size.

Users can now easily make their text bold or italic and also send GIFs which they can choose from app’s in-built gallery.

Despite WhatsApp’s move to adopt end-to-end encryption by default for its billion users around the world, rights groups have termed the policies of the instant messaging app too weak to protect user privacy from governments.

Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in early 2014.

Bandh in Jammu to condemn Amarnath terror attack

Several political organisations, including the VHP, JKNPP, NC and Congress called for a bandh in the city on Tuesday, in the wake of a terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

“We have called for Jammu bandh tomorrow (Tuesday) against the death of seven Amarnath pilgrims in a terror attack at Anantnag,” VHP spokesman Rajesh Kumar said on Monday.

A similar call was made by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), the National Conference (NC) and the Congress. Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma condemned the attack and said the party supported the bandh.

Terrorists killed seven Amarnath pilgrims, including six women, and injured 32 others as they struck at a bus in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, in the worst attack on the annual pilgrimage since the year 2000.

The bus bearing the registration number GJ09Z 9976 was attacked at around 8.20 PM near Khanabal when it was on its way to Jammu, police said.

Apple slashes iPhone, Mac prices in India

Tech giant Apple has slashed prices of its products in India, including iPhone, iPad and Mac, from July 1, as it looks to pass on the benefits accrued from the recently rolled out Goods and Services Tax (GST) to customers.

The iPhone 7 Plus (256GB version) - the most premium device in Apple’s smartphone portfolio - will be available at Rs 85,400. This is Rs 6,600 cheaper than the earlier price tag of Rs 92,000.

Similarly, the price of iPhone SE (128GB) has been reduced by Rs 2,200 to Rs 35,000.

The new prices listed on the company’s website is upto 7.2 per cent lower than previous iPhone prices.

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro (512GB) will see its price coming down from over Rs 1 lakh to Rs 97,000.

Apple declined to comment on whether the price reduction was on account of GST, which will see smartphones being taxed at 12 per cent as compared to an earlier range of 8-18 per cent depending on the states.

Interestingly, the government has also introduced a 10 per cent basic customs duty on mobile phones and certain parts, in a bid to promote domestic manufacturing.

However, domestic players like Micromax and Lava are unlikely to revise their prices after GST implementation.

India is an important market for Apple and this move could help the US-based firm further consolidate its position here.

According to industry estimates, Apple has a 44 per cent share of the premium market (USD 400 and above), while rival Samsung had 41 per cent share in the January-March 2017 quarter. Other players in the category include the likes of OnePlus, LG, Sony and HTC.

Apple’s revenue grew more than 20 per cent in India in the quarter ended March 2017.

Acknowledging that Apple is “underpenetrated” in India, CEO Tim Cook has said the US tech giant is strengthening its local presence in the country and is optimistic about its future given the fast-growing economy and improving 4G network infrastructure in the country.