Indian Air Force Rafale Jets Will Be Made In India, To Give Boost To Tejas Technology

India's largest-ever military deal is likely to bring in big business for the private sector with the French side looking to set up a production centre for the Rafale fighter aircraft as well as a low-cost executive jet in India, besides sharing vital aircraft technology for the indigenous Tejas project.

Officials familiar with the project have told ET that major partners for this 'Make in India' project are currently being identified by the French side and are likely to include Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence Systems, Noida-based Samtel and Bharat ElectronicsBSE -0.36 %. These officials, both Indian and French, spoke on the condition they not be identified.

Spokespersons of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group told ET "there is no development". Officials on the French side told ET, on condition of anonymity, that the agreement between Rafale and an Indian partner will be on the lines of the 2012 agreement between the French company and the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries

Source : techgignews.com

Change the color of inactive windows in Windows 10

When Microsoft released the retail version of Windows 10, window titlebars supported only the white color. This meant that every titlebar, with some notable third-party exceptions that used their own color scheme, was white.

Microsoft was criticized heavily for the lack of coloring options, promised to do better, and added options to Windows 10 later on to pick a different color for the active window.

Options to pick an accent color from the background, or a fixed color, were added to the Personalization > Color options of the Settings application.

The move improved the situation somewhat, but ignored inactive window colors completely. These were still displayed with a white background and without options to change the color in the Windows settings.

The screenshot below highlights how that looks currently if you have set a different color for the active titlebar in Windows 10.

Windows 10 users who want to change the color of inactive titlebars in the operating system had to resort to third-party solutions until now.

Ask VG discovered a Registry key that handles the inactive titlebar color natively. Once created and filled with a value, it uses the selected background color for all inactive windows in the operating system.

You need to do the following to do that:

Tap on the Windows-key, type regedit and hit enter.

You may get an UAC prompt which you need to accept.

Use the tree structure on the left to navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM

Right-click on DWM and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.

Name it AccentColorInactive.

Double-click the value afterwards and add a color hex code to it. Note: The hex format is reversed, instead of using RRGGBB it uses BBGGRR with R=red, G=green and B=blue.

You may use a service like Paletton or similar services to get these color codes (check Base RGB on the site).

If you get the code 403075 for instance, you would have to add it as 570304 in the value field of the AccentColorInactive preference.

Color changes become active right away. I suggest you open two Windows Explorer windows and toggle between them to see the effect immediately. Adjust the color as you see fit until you are satisfied.

Source : ghacks.net

This Indian startup takes the headache out of subscription ecommerce

“Imagine you’re a business that’s global in nature, and you’re growing globally. You have lots of customers in Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, the UK, and Australia. You host a lot of products in these companies, [but you] also want the customers to have a more local experience,” says Krish Subramanian, founder and CEO of ChargeBee.

ChargeBee caters to that. Based in Chennai, India, ChargeBee got its start in 2013 and helps businesses better manage recurring billings and online subscriptions. It serves about 1,000 clients across industries in nearly 50 countries. All clients deal in subscription ecommerce, meaning they rely on regular payments that come in from users.

Payment management is a big deal for up-and-coming companies, particularly startups, which are often short-staffed and need to conserve resources. They could do with an easy and convenient way to process transactions, particularly transactions overseas that may be in a different currency. In a recent move, ChargeBee has partnered with Worldpay, a London-based payment processing company, to bring an integrated payments solution to subscription billing.

Instead of paying in the currency of your company’s country, you’d want your customers to be able to pay in their own currencies. Dealing with multiple currencies is not the easiest thing to do. For example, paying across countries with different credit cards means that your payments have a lower rate of acceptance. The collaboration allows for, as Krish says, “crossover” between payments that won’t need in-house processing or a bank as a middleman.

In other words, ChargeBee takes a lot of the processing work required for subscription billings out of the picture — if you’re paying a certain amount per month, someone has to process that, and ChargeBee offers to do it for you instead of wasting time and resources having your staff do it. With the Worldpay partnership, the service can now process payments between different currencies without involving a bank and with a lot less red tape involved.

ChargeBee joins Zuora, Avangate, and Cleverbridge in a battle to get companies signed up for this kind of convenience. Subscription payment startups are doing well in an economy that seems to be becoming more and more subscription-based.

Source : techinasia.com

Sky talks UHD and leaving door open for Netflix and Amazon on its new box

Sky will not be launching Ultra HD until the company is sure that the customer demand is there, and it has not ruled out the chance of Netflix or Amazon Prime apps appearing on its new Sky Q box.

The Sky Q Silver box will launch early in 2016, but although the box is 'UHD ready' that part of the service will be held back at launch.

With rival BT already offering a UHD service - most notably in Sky's traditional cutting-edge area of football - it's important for the company to be seen as not lagging too far behind.

But rushing out a service is not something Sky is entertaining, with Director of Customer Experience Kathryn Lacey confirming to techradar that the company would launch when ready.

"The decision not to launch [with UHD] was based on us as a company only launching a service when we think they are ready for it.

"We want to make sure that we have a comprehensive line-up and also it's about making sure the customer demand is there."

When techradar asked about whether Netflix or Amazon may arrive on the service, Lacey did not rule out the chance of services that may be considered competitive joining the launch apps in the new smart functionality of the Sky Q.

"This is just the start - the guys we have got in [the apps] are the ones we've worked with and had a real appetite," she said

"Everyone wanted YouTube so that's on the box - and we are totally open to working with a number of partners."

So it's not a no from Sky, which gives a glimmer of hope that this comprehensive service will soon not only be toting UHD but also more content services beyond its own.

Source : in.techradar.com

iPhone 7 – Waterproof And With 3GB Of RAM?

The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are over two months old, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not interested in the upcoming iPhone, how it will look like or what new features will be added. There are already tech websites filled with rumors about the specs of the iPhone 7 and they suggest that the upcoming flagship will be waterproof and will support more RAM.

TrendForce launched some rumors according to which in 2016, Apple will come with a 4-inch iPhone, in addition to the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models, because some fans are missing the old iPhone 5S and repeatedly asked Apple to bring a smaller version, because not all of them are fond of phablets.

Another speculation is related to the collaboration between Apple and Samsung, which will edge closer next year. The South Korean giant already built the A9 processor for the current iPhones and some are whispering that the iPhone 7 might adopt an AMOLED display.

Other rumors say that the screen will be an OLED, while most of the specialists believe that Apple will continue to use the TFT-LCD display technology. No matter what type of panel it will be, it will include an eye-tracking technology, likewise that that was introduced on the Galaxy S4, which stops some actions when the user is not looking at the screen, such as Smart Pause for videos, Smart Scroll for moving web pages up or down, and Smart Stay, which prevents screen-dimming, when the user is looking at the screen.

Source : techgignews.com

63 Percent of Top Android Apps Engage in Covert Communications

MIT researchers have analyzed the top 500 most popular Android apps and discovered that 63% of these apps initiate covert communications to remote servers that have no impact on the user experience.

Researchers used both static analysis techniques and human evaluators to compile their results. The researchers described an overt communication as any connection between the app and a remote server that directly changed or modified the app's behavior and UI. All other connections were considered covert, having no impact on the user's experience within the app.

Not all the covert traffic can be attributed to analytics

By processing app data traffic and comparing the UI before and after the connection started, scientists found out that 63% of the top free Android apps are guilty of engaging in "secret whispering."

While half of the covert communications accounted for analytics traffic, data shared with online advertisers about the device and its user, the other half remained a mystery to MIT's scientists.

"Our analysis shows that covert communication is quite common in top-popular Android applications in the Google Play store," the research team noted.

Human testers confirmed the researchers' findings

Researchers went a step further and also decompiled and modified 47 of the top 100 free Android apps, disabling their ability to start covert communications.

The MIT staff then tested these apps with human subjects, who reported that they couldn't spot any differences between the original and the modified version in 30 of these applications. Only 5 applications stopped working, while the other 12 showed minimal impact on the UI.

In most cases, most of the secret communications were started by the same components. The biggest offender is com.google.android, used in 76.4% of the entire analyzed apps. Researchers discovered that the component started 1,913 covert calls, 50% of its total number of calls.

Other notable infringers are com.gameloft  (mobile games), com.unity3d (mobile games), com.facebook (social media), and a slew of advertising SDKs.

Researchers also noted that the Candy Crash Saga, an app that was scrutinized so many times about various user privacy issues, was not making any secret calls at all.

Source : softpedia.com

Indian startups, Chinese giants Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent eyeing you

NEW DELHI: A new group of investors — Chinese in origin — is poised to step in as investors of choice for Indian startups, taking the place of some of the country's biggest venture capital firms that are becoming more cautious about writing large cheques.

Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, collectively known as BAT, have been scouting in India for a year for startups to invest in, to take advantage of potential opportunities in the world's third-largest smartphone market, several investors and entrepreneurs ET spoke to said.While Alibaba and Tencent have already ploughed in millions, questions, however, have stacked up about their focus and investment strategies for Asia's second-largest economy.

"India is the last big frontier for the global mobile internet," said Vikram Vaidyanathan, managing director at Matrix Partners India. "BAT as global heavyweights will definitely play a role in shaping this ecosystem. Given their investment track record and deep sector expertise, I think many Indian startups would welcome their participation.

The growing interest in India comes at an opportune time for BAT, with venture capital investors realigning their portfolios as several startups are struggling to sustain or grow.Baidu declined to comment for this story while Alibaba and Tencent did not reply to email queries.

Venture capital firms pumped in a record $4 billion (Rs 26,000 crore) in Indian startups between January and September this year, but the deals are becoming fewer and smaller — investments dropped from 43 deals worth $604 million in July to 30 deals worth $255 million in September.

US-based Tiger Global Management, the most prolific backer of startups in India, has decided to tone down its aggressive style in the country, in a reflection of the limits of its strategy so far as well as the changing investor mood, ET reported on November 20.

Alibaba Group, China's largest ecommerce firm, invested $680 million in Noida-based online retailer Paytm in September, a month after pumping in $100 million to $125 million in Snapdeal, India's second-largest online marketplace by sales.

"(Alibaba Group) has invested close to $1 billion (in Indian startups), which is the largest from China," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive of Paytm. "They have the sharpest focus among the three."Shenzhen-based Tencent, which owns mobile app WeChat, in August invested in online healthcare startup Practo as part of a $90-million funding round. Baidu, China's largest internet search company, is in talks to invest in Mydala, an online coupon and discount marketing firm, ET reported on November 10.

"Each of them will likely invest here, and will invest in sectors that are close to their core business," said a fund manager with a venture capital firm, on condition of anonymity. "Commerce and wallets for Alibaba, social and mobile consumer for Tencent, and mobile consumer and commerce for Baidu."Some believe ecommerce will not be the only port of call for the big three Chinese investors. "Travel, real estate and education could also turn out to be attractive picks for the three Chinese investors.

I don't see them limiting themselves to e-commerce as other sectors also present large markets," said Mayank Khanduja, principal at investment firm SAIF Partners. "They are prolific venture investors in China... I don't think they'll adopt one dominant strategy for India."Mahendra Swarup, India managing director of private equity firm Avigo Capital, said Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are likely to seek active roles in the companies they invest in. "They're strategic investors, and they want to drive their portfolio companies by taking a majority stake in them."

Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial hold over 40 per cent in Paytm, according to people aware of the matter. Baidu, too, is looking to pick up a controlling stake in Mydala. Tencent's stake-holding in Practo is undisclosed."With Alibaba, it was always about such a large, significant ownership combined between Alibaba and Ant Financial from day one," said Paytm's Sharma. "This was so that they can commit various resources and help to the company, beyond just a pure financial stake."

Source : The Times Of India - Tech.