New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday rolled out a new feature that will help users stay safe in group messaging.

This has already started rolling out to users and will be available to all users in the coming weeks, the company said.

According to the company, if users are added to a group by someone they don’t know, they will now see a context card giving them more information about the group.

“This includes who added you, how recent the group was created, and who created it,” WhatsApp said.

“From there, you can decide whether to stay or leave the group and review some of the safety tools available to stay safe and secure on WhatsApp,” it added.

The Meta-owned company said that this new feature is particularly helpful when users just met someone or a group of people, and haven’t yet saved them in their contacts — or it can help confirm whether or not it’s a group they know or want to be in.

“This update provides WhatsApp users with another layer of safety and security, building on existing features like silencing unknown callers, chat lock, in-app privacy check-up, and controlling who can add you to groups,” the company stated.

It also mentioned that the update is similar to the current experience in 1:1 messaging as well, where “you’re given more context if you’re messaged by someone you don’t know”.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Samsung is getting ready for its highly anticipated Galaxy Unpacked event, set for July 10 in Paris.

This year’s event is expected to reveal a variety of new products, including foldable phones, earbuds, smartwatches, and the eagerly awaited Galaxy Ring health wearable.

At this year’s event, Samsung is likely to unveil its “Galaxy AI” system, integrating AI features such as on-device translation and photo editing across various Galaxy devices.

Additionally, this new Galaxy AI system is expected to be included in the upcoming Galaxy Z series: the unannounced Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6.

A major highlight of the event could be significant upgrades for both foldable phones. As per leaks, the Z Fold 6 features a lighter design, improved battery life, and a brighter 7.6-inch inner display. The Z Flip 6 offers a 50 MP camera, a larger 4,000mAh battery, and a new cover screen feature for real-time language translation. Both are expected to feature the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.

Rumours also suggest that the company might unveil a new flagship smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra. This watch might boast a new “squircle” case design, a third button, and a proprietary watchband connector, similar to the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a report by The Verge.

In addition, leaks suggest a redesigned Galaxy Buds announcement at the event, featuring colour accents and a potentially matte grey finish for the Pro models.

The Samsung Galaxy Ring, unveiled earlier this year at MWC 2024, is expected to receive an official launch at the Unpacked event. The wearable device, equipped with sensors, can track the user’s health and keep a record of vital metrics such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and sleep patterns.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) A team of Indian scientists has developed an open-source tool to generate an infrared star catalogue for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which is a planned telescope proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Tuesday.

The online tool to create a comprehensive star catalogue for the Adaptive Optics (AO) system of the upcoming TMT can enable this ground-based telescope — one of the largest to be operational in the next decade — to generate sharper astronomical images.

India is a key partner in the TMT project, with the India TMT Center at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru leading the national collaboration.

“The AOS system on TMT, known as the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), will be enhanced by a Laser Guide Star (LGS) facility,” said Dr Sarang Shah from IIA.

This facility will project up to nine lasers into the sky to create artificial guide stars.

“However, atmospheric turbulence affects these laser beams, so measuring atmospheric tip-tilt is uncertain. To correct these effects, the AO system requires feedback from three real stars, known as Natural Guide Stars (NGS),” Shah said in the research published in the Astronomical Journal.

Telescopes on the surface of the Earth face the challenge of atmospheric distortion, affecting the quality of captured images. The TMT will use an Adaptive Optics system that continuously senses and adjusts for atmospheric changes to produce high-quality images. Researchers at the IIA and their collaborators have developed an automated code that can be used as an online tool to create a catalogue of Near Infrared (NIR) stars.

“The automated code can compute the expected near-infrared magnitudes of stellar sources identified in various optical sky surveys using their optical magnitudes,” said Dr Smitha Subramanian, co-author and faculty at the IIA.

Our method shows great promise in generating the all-sky catalogue of NIR stars needed before TMT’s first run in the next decade, added Shah.

India’s participation in the TMT collaboration involves three institutes: the IIA, Bengaluru, the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and the Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Edtech service provider Schoolnet on Tuesday said that it acquired private school-focused artificial intelligence (AI) edtech company Genius Teacher in an all-stock deal for an undisclosed multi-million dollar valuation.

With this acquisition, Schoolnet gets Genius Teachers’ private school market presence and innovative AI-led teacher and student apps along with growing its reach to over 10,000 private schools by FY27.

“With most companies bleeding investor money and still nowhere close to profitability, Schoolnet is an inspiration of a Make in India company and has created a huge impact in the lives of millions of teachers and students,” Advitiya Sharma, CEO & Founder of Genius Teacher, said in a statement.

Schoolnet operating at scale with a revenue of Rs 429 crore and EBITDA of Rs 69 crore for FY24, the company mentioned. It provides schools with its smart-class solution and AI Apps ecosystem to improve student learning outcomes.

“We worked with Genius Teacher for more than 1 year and were impressed by their A+ Team and AI Tech capabilities, confident that they will strongly support us in our next phase of growth,” said R.C.M. Reddy MD, CEO of Schoolnet India.

Genius Teacher founded by 3 IIT Bombay graduates – Sharma, along with co-founders Shashank Pachore and Ruturaj Atre – impacts nearly 2.5 million students currently, encompassing CBSE, ICSE, and 5 state boards syllabi.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 9 (IANS) Electric vehicle (EV) startups on Tuesday hailed the Uttar Pradesh government’s announcement on the complete waiver of registration tax on strong hybrid cars to promote the use of environment-friendly vehicles in the state.

The state is offering a 100 per cent waiver on registration fees for strong hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

The move is set to benefit hybrid cars being offered by automakers like Maruti, Toyota and Honda.

Raghav Arora, Co-Founder and CTO, Statiq, told IANS that it is a significant step towards promoting eco-friendly cars.

“As an EV charging company, we applaud this initiative for making sustainable vehicles more accessible. This proactive government effort will encourage people to shift towards EVs, aligning with India’s broader goals of reducing carbon emissions and advancing green technology adoption,” said Arora.

Since this is an amendment to the existing EV policy, the relaxation in registration costs will be valid till October 2025.

According to Ankit Sharma, Co-Founder & Director, Vidyuta Materials, as a startup focused on producing Cathode Active Materials (CAM) for lithium-ion batteries in EVs, they support this initiative for enhancing the affordability of sustainable mobility.

“These actions foster broader adoption of electric vehicles, bolstering India’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and embrace environmentally sustainable technologies,” Sharma added.

–IANS

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