TecQ is our weekly round-up of top technology stories.
1. With Data Breaches Aplenty, Apple Hard Sells ‘Privacy’ in India
Amid all the hullabaloo over privacy, where giants like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Twitter face intense scrutiny and hefty penalties from governments for compromising users' personal information, Apple takes a proactive approach towards maintaining strong security hygiene around its device and app ecosystem.
Be it processing data on the device or minimising collection of personal data, Apple is setting the right example for other technology companies and how to conduct business.
People would argue that Facebook and Google’s business model makes them focus more on connecting millions rather data privacy, unlike Apple. This strategy by former duo has resulted in blatant abuse of user’s data.
Read the story here.
3. More Indians Using Google Pay to Send Money, Paytm Usage Falls
India has adopted the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for mobile payments via apps like Google Pay, Paytm and PhonePe among others.
While India-based Paytm has lead the payment charts most of the time, things have changed dramatically in July, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As mentioned in this ET Tech report on Thursday, Google Pay is now the leading UPI player in the country, followed by PhonePe.
The report highlights that Google Pay has recorded over 300 million transactions, while Paytm’s numbers have dropped to 133 million last month. Interestingly, the figures mentioned are for person to person (P2P) transactions, which is heavily incentivised via cashback offers.
Read the full story here.
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Launched, Prices Start from Rs 69,999
The South Korean giant, hosting the annual ‘Unpacked’ event in New York, has announced the tenth generation of its Galaxy Note devices, this time, a Plus variant in the Note family will also feature in the Note lineup for the first time.
For India, the Galaxy Note 10 gets a price tag of Rs 69,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant. The Galaxy Note 10+ will cost you Rs 79,999 for the 12GB + 256GB model. As expected, the 5G variant of the Note 10 won’t be coming to India for now.
It has been 10 years since the first Galaxy Note was introduced in front of the world, making it the first phablet device to debut in the market. Fast forward to 2019, and the Galaxy Note 10 looks to change the dynamics of the Note family.
Click here to know more about the new Galaxy Note series.
5. Play Songs on This Music Streaming App Without Downloading It
Till now, if you wanted to try an app, its features and experience of using it, you had to download them. But probably for the first time, we’re getting an app which works without having to download it. This is a music streaming app, which will not only show you a list of songs but play them as well.
We’re talking about Gaana, owned by Times Internet, which competes with other platforms like Amazon Prime Music and Spotify among others in the country.
With more streaming platforms launching in the country, it seems Gaana is looking to attract users by asking them to get a pre-download experience of its app.
Read the story here.
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