Heena Sharma Blog

  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci on Thursday said that the coronavirus vaccine rollout hasn't gone as he expected adding that it has been 'disappointing'. "We would have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today by the end of 2020, which was the projection," Fauci said during an appearance on "Today", as quoted by The Hill and added, "Obviously, it didn't happen, and that's disappointing." The outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration had touted a goal of getting 20 million people the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year but it was reported that the actual number will fall far short of that mark. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID data tracker stated that about 2.8 million people have received their first vaccine dose as of Thursday. Read More  

  Ministry of Road Transport and Highways mandated fitment of FASTag with effect from Friday, in M and N categories of motor vehicles sold before December 1, 2017. Notably, category 'M' stands for a motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying passengers, while category 'N' stands for a motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying goods, which may also carry persons in addition to goods. The Ministry in an official release clarified that the Central Motor Vehicle (CMV) Rule stands in force as it is. However, the Ministry said that at hybrid lanes of fee plazas on national highways, fee payment can be made through FASTag as well as in cash mode till February 15, 2021. "Moreover, in FASTag lanes of fee plazas, payment of fees will continue to be through FASTag only," it added. Read More  

The World Health Organization says it has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, meaning poorer countries may soon get access to the shot already available in Europe and North America. Every country that has a drug regulatory agency will have to issue its own approval for any COVID-19 vaccine , but countries with weak systems usually rely on WHO to vet the shots. The global body said late Thursday that the decision to issue its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine "opens the door for countries to expedite their own regulatory approval processes to import and administer the vaccine." The UN health agency said its review found the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has already received clearance in the United States, Britain, the European Union and a dozen other countries, "met the must-have criteria for safety and efficacy set out by WHO." Read More  

  Sony has announced that its gaming subscription service ' PlayStation Plus ' users will get a new lineup of free games next month. "PlayStation Plus starts 2021 with a bang. PlayStation Plus members will receive two PS4 titles - action-adventure Shadow of the Tomb Raider and action RPG GreedFall on January 5," the company said in a statement. On the same day, PlayStation 5 owners with a PlayStation Plus membership can play a terrifying apex predator in the open-world RPG Maneater. Maneater is an open-world RPG where players take control of a shark, which PlayStation Plus refers to as a SkaRkPG. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 22, 2020, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 in November 2020, and will be released for the Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2021. Read More

Tech giant Google recently added a new section on its online store which gives all the information one needs about all the different subscriptions that the tech giant offers at one place. Mashable quoted a reported by XDA Developers stating that the navigation bar on the Google Store now features a Subscription landing page where users get all the deets and updates about its different offerings including YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, Stadia Pro, Google One, and Google Fi. The section features a short description of each service, which is followed by a "Learn more" link. If a user clicks on the link, they will be redirected to a signup page for that particular service. The new section on the Google online store is broken down as follows - Shows & Music: YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, Gaming: Stadia Pro, Google Play Pass, Storage & Security: Google One, Nest Aware, Phone Plan: Google Fi. Read More

  I thought it would not be easy to like any other smart television after my experience with Sony’s flagship A8H OLED TV (review). Now it seems I might have been wrong. Xiaomi’s debutant 55-inch QLED TV is quite a competent smart television. Though not as technology-rich as Sony’s OLED, it delivers a comprehensive experience that few premium smart TVs can match. Important to note that the Xiaomi Mi QLED TV 4K is priced at Rs 54,999 which makes it an entry-level smart TV in the QLED segment. The Mi QLED TV 4K does carry an accessible price tag, but make no mistake: It barely cuts corners on any major features, technology or otherwise. Starting with the design, the Mi QLED TV 4K boasts a metallic frame with a 55-inch screen covering almost the entire front. The edge-to-edge stretched screen leaves negligible borders and the otherwise prominent bottom bezel is also reasonably thin. The TV’s metallic frame has a glossy finish with diamond-cut edges for a smooth profile, and laser cu...

  The Indian space rockets are set to go green as ISRO is working to replace its existing hazardous fuel with non-hazardous and environment- friendly fuels for its rockets and satellites, the ISRO Chairman said. He also said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking at green propulsion through hydrogen peroxide in its rocket that would take Indians into the space under its 'Gaganyaan' mission. "Since humans will be inside the rocket, we want only non-hazardous fuel and not the hazardous one to power the human space mission's Gaganyaan rocket ," ISRO chief K Sivan, who is also Secretary in Department of Space, told IANS. According to him, ISRO is also looking at rocket engines powered by hydrogen peroxide as a mono-propellant or as a bi-propellant along with ethanol. ISRO is also developing another green fuel - LOX/Methane- liquid oxygen as oxidiser and methane as fuel. Read More

  Anticipating a surge in tourists during and after New Year , the Goa government is considering imposing a night curfew on the lines of the one imposed in the national capital and in Karnataka, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Thursday. "Spoke to the Hon'ble CM on imposing night curfew in the state on lines of the state of Delhi & Karnataka. The file is already in process. Strict SOPs is the need of the hour as Goa is a tourist state," Rane said via his official Facebook account. Goa has witnessed a surge in the tourist arrivals over the last few weeks, which peaked during the festive season of Christmas celebrations in the state. Tourist authorities in the state are expecting another surge in the arrivals during the New Celebrations which stretch into the upcoming weekend. Read More

  The Mumbai Police are on " high alert " and have put in place "anti-sabotage and anti-terror" measures considering the threat to the financial capital during the New Year celebrations , an official said on Thursday. Around 35,000 police personnel will be deployed on the streets of Mumbai to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incidents on New Year's Eve, the official said. "We are on high alert. We have put in place anti- terror and anti-sabotage measures in view of the New Year celebrations," Mumbai police spokesperson DCP S Chaitanya said. "There will be adequate deployment of police in the city. Nakabandi (road blockades) will be put in place on important roads," he said. The Maharashtra government has put in place a night curfew between 11 pm and 6 am, prohibiting gathering of five or more persons in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

  The Delhi government has imposed a night curfew on December 31 and January 1 from 11 pm to 6 am to avoid large gathering during New Year celebrations . In Delhi, not more than 5 people will be allowed to assemble at public places during night curfew to avoid large gatherings. However, there will be no restriction on interstate movement of people and goods during night curfew in Delhi. The move comes after Centre asked to impose restrictions on New year celebrations after assessing the local situation, though the final decision has been left to them. Maharashtra government has announced an extension of lockdown in the state till 31st January next year. The Uddhav government had earlier imposed a night curfew in all the municipal areas of the state. The curfew is in place from 11 pm to 6 am and will remain in force till 5th January. Read More

  The Maharashtra government has extended till January 31, 2021 the lockdown restrictions in the state on account of coronavirus . A circular to this effect was issued on December 29. "The state is threatened with the spread of COVID-19 virus . Therefore, to take certain emergency measures to prevent and contain the spread of the virus, the lockdown in the state has been extended till January 31," the circular said. The activities already allowed and permitted from time to time shall be continue, it added. Over the past few months, the government has eased several lockdown restrictions. Last month, the government had allowed reopening of places of worship. Schools for students from Std 9th to 12th were also reopened in some parts of the state. Read More

  Puducherry logged 26 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday pushing the aggregate to 38,096, a government official said. No fresh fatality was reported and the toll remained 633. Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release that 26 cases were spread over Puducherry (16), Karaikal (9) and Mahe (one). The fatality and recovery rates were 1.66 percent and 97.39 percent respectively. The official noted that 4.81 lakh samples were tested so far and it was found that 4.39 lakh out of them turned out to be negative. The Director said 26 patients recovered and were discharged during last 24 hours. Read More

  Samsung is reportedly planning to launch three foldable smartphones in the market next year, including Galaxy Z Fold 3 , Galaxy Z Flip 3 , and an affordable model which could be named Galaxy Z Flip Lite . To keep the phone's price low, the company has decided to make this affordable mode an LTE-only smartphone, which means it won't have support for the latest 5G communication technology, reports news portal Gizbot. A new Samsung foldable smartphone with the model number SM-F720F was spotted and is expected to draw power from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, which is the currently available 4G chipset. Apart from this, there's not much information about the rumoured Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Lite. Read More

  A federal judge in Florida on Tuesday dismissed Apple Inc's copyright infringement claims against a Florida startup whose software helps security researchers find vulnerabilities in Apple products including the iPhone. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith ruled in favor of Corellium LLC, saying its software emulating the iOS operating system that runs on the iPhone and iPad amounted to "fair use" because it was "transformative" and helped developers find security flaws. Apple accused Corellium of essentially replicating iOS to create "virtual" iOS-operated devices, whose "sole function" was to run unauthorized copies of the system on non-Apple hardware. But the Fort Lauderdale-based judge said Corellium "adds something new to iOS" by letting users see and halt running processes, take live snapshots, and conduct other operations. Read More  

  Russian luxury goods brand Caviar, known for making luxury variants of popular gadgets, has unveiled custom-made, over-ear headphones Caviar AirPods Max plated with "pure gold" for the high price of $108,000, which roughly translate to nearly Rs 80 lakh. Caviar said that the luxury headphones will be "released in a single piece worldwide," indicating that supplies will be limited. The earcups of the headphones are made from pure gold, replacing the current aluminium that Apple makes the earcups out of. Caviar is also replacing the mesh headband with "rare crocodile leather". The Caviar AirPods Max headphones will come in white or black headband but the earcups will remain in gold for both versions. AirPods Max was launched earlier this month with high-fidelity sound, Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio for Rs 59,900. Read More  

  Xiaomi has launched as many as eight phones in the Redmi 9 series in India and now, the company has launched an affordable Redmi 9 Power device with a massive 6000mAh battery. The Redmi 9 Power is priced starting at Rs 10,999 for the base variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and Rs 11,999 for the 128GB storage option. The phone is offered in four colours -- mighty black, blazing blue, fiery red and electric green. We used the 128GB variant in blazing blue colour option for around a week and here is what we think about the new budget device. At the base, it features a Type-C port at the base with a mic on the right side and a single grille speaker on the other side. At the top, it has IR Blaster along with a 3.5mm audio jack. The volume rocker is on the right, with the fingerprint sensor which also doubles up as a power and display button just below it. There's a USB Type C port on the base. Read More  

  Google Pixel 5 and 4a 5G users can no longer use their ultra-wide cameras to take pictures of the stars. The company apparently removed the lens's astrophotography capabilities with the Google Camera 8.1 update. According to The Verge, the feature was a selling point of the Pixel 4 and was available on the regular and telephoto cameras. When the 4a 5G and 5 were announced with new wide-angle lenses, the feature was added to those as well. Now it's been taken away. On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works on zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x. The astrophotography feature lets users capture the night sky by pointing their phone up and keeping it still, either by balancing it on a nearby object or putting it on a tripod. The feature is still available on the phones' other cameras, but if you go to Night Sight mode and switch to the ultra-wide-angle camera a user will now get a warning saying "Zoom to 1x for astrophotography." Read ...

  Identified 'beneficiaries' are undergoing dummy vaccination at various centres in Gandhinagar and Rajkot districts of Gujarat on the second day of the COVID-19 vaccination dry run on Tuesday, officials said. The two-day end-to-end dry run was being carried out to test the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination and to provide insights into any gaps to be addressed before the commencement of the actual vaccination drive. Gujarat is one of the four states chosen by the Central government to conduct the mock COVID-19 vaccination drive. Health workers are among the first 'beneficiaries' identified for the mock vaccination drive being conducted at four health centres in Gandhinagar city. Explaining the procedure, an official said a dummy vaccination was dispatched from an Urban Health Centre (UHC) to these four booths. Read More

  Microsoft this year launched not one but two gaming consoles – the top-end Xbox Series X and a cheaper digital-only model Xbox Series S. The Xbox Series X is a premium gaming console that boasts the best of the company’s technological prowess, being the most advanced gaming console available in India at present. It is no surprise that the Xbox Series S pales in comparison to this high-tech model, but by no means is the affordable model incompetent. Instead, it seems just about perfect if you drop the comparison and just it as a standalone product. The Xbox Series S is the smallest Xbox ever made – merely 27.5cm tall, 15.1cm deep, and 6.5cm broad in the vertical position. Its petite form factor makes it stand comfortably next to a TV or a gaming monitor, even if there is not much space to accommodate anything else. Moreover, it can be placed in both vertical and horizontal positions. Therefore, you have the choice to stand it next to the screen or slide it under just like a sou...

  The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus emerged a year ago before it became a pandemic and upended life across the globe, has started the emergency COVID-19 vaccination on some key groups, a senior health official said on Tuesday, even as China is yet to officially certify its multiple vaccines. The vaccination, available at 48 designated clinics in 15 districts, began on December 24, targeting certain groups of people aged between 18 and 59 years, He Zhenyu, deputy director of the centre for disease control and prevention in Wuhan, told the media in Wuhan. Those receiving the vaccine need to take two shots with an interval of four weeks, the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted He as saying. As per the official Chinese time-line, the first cases of coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, on December 31 last year. The city of 11 million people went into lockdown from January 23, followed by the entire Hubei province. Read More

  Argentina will begin vaccinating its population against coronavirus on Tuesday, using Russia's Sputnik V vaccine . Health workers will be first in line to receive the first shot of the two-component vaccine. The vaccine will be administered across all 23 provinces and in the capital Buenos Aires. Some 300,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in the Latin American country last Thursday, a day after it authorized the emergency use of Sputnik V. Under the contract, Russia will deliver ten million doses. Carla Vizzotti, the country's secretary for health access, described the campaign on Monday as "the most important vaccination in our history." Read More

  The Hammer KO is a pair of entry-level true wireless stereo earbuds manufactured by home-grown technology startup Hammer. These basic wireless earbuds come with a hook-based design for a secure fit – that seems to set it apart from peers in the budget segment. Except for hooks, however, there is nothing novel about these earbuds. They have Bluetooth v5.0 for connectivity, microphones for voice calls, touch controls and IPX4 water resistance rating. So far as design is concerned, these earbuds are not ergonomically sound, thanks to their hook-based build. But they sure are lightweight. The earbuds are made mostly of plastic, with matte texture on the outer side, and rubber hooks. The ear hooks do make them comfortable to wear, but the Hammer KO lacks snug fit, despite being an in-ear earphones. This hampers the earbuds’ passive noise isolation capability. They do not come off the ears easily, thanks to the hooks, but you need to constantly adjust them for optimal fit. On the po...

  ICICI Bank on Monday said it has joined hands with Google Pay for issuance of FASTag , a reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets users pass through the toll plaza without stopping for cash transactions. This collaboration enables Google Pay users to order, track and even recharge ICICI Bank FASTag digitally on the payments platform itself. "With the increased adoption of digital payments in all walks of life, we believe that this collaboration with Google will help Google Pay users to apply for a new FASTag and get it delivered free of cost at their doorstep," Sudipta Roy, Head -- Unsecured Assets, ICICI Bank, said in a statement. "We believe that this initiative will go a long way in increasing adoption of FASTag for toll payments." FASTag is a brand name owned by Indian Highways Management Company Ltd. (IHMCL), which carries out electronic tolling and other ancillary projects of National Highway Authorities of India (N...

  A total of 11 out of about 2,200 passengers who returned to Mumbai from the United Kingdom since November 25 have been found coronavirus positive , the civic body officials said on Monday. Of these 11 passengers, five passengers had arrived last week, while the six others had returned before December 22, Dr Managala Gomare, executive health officer, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), told PTI. Another official said samples of these 11 passengers have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for genome sequencing to find if they are infected with a new strain of the coronavirus. "Currently, 187 of the 590 passengers who returned from the UK last week are placed under institutional quarantine at various hotels," Dr Gomare said. Read More